New Memories, Old Friends
by The Narrator's Muse
Summary: Sakura has left Lillian Academy and starting at Miator with her adoptive sister Nagisa. On their first day, Sakura meets Etoile Shizuma Hanazono and feels a strong familiarity to her. What will happen? Sequel to Memories of the Past, Pains of the Present.
1. Prologue: Summary

**Disclaimer: I don't own, nor claim to own, anything strawberry panic. it all belongs to the original creators**

**Prologue: Summary**

Sakura was in the car with Mizuki, they were driving out to visit Sakura's friend Lance, or rather, Lance's grave. Lance had passed away six months ago after being stabbed through the heart by Sakura's crazy grandfather who kidnapped Sakura's friends in order to use them against Sakura to gain her Draconian powers, which she and Lance had gained after her uncle had done some genetic engineering on them to create a race of super-humans when she and Lance were children. After the supposed unsuccessful experiments, Sakura had made the mistake of overhearing a conversation between her father, uncle and grandfather which, after a series of different circumstances, led to Sakura being disowned from her biological family, the Ogasawaras.

Years later, while attending her first year of high school at Lillian Academy with her best friend and old neighbour, Yumi Fukazawa, Sakura was reunited with her biological sister Sachiko. After weeks of avoiding her sister, a letter from her grandfather, a trip to the hospital and the reunion between her and Lance, Sakura left Lillian with Lance to go into hiding for a time. They were lured out by the kidnapping of Sakura's friends by her grandfather and Sakura's uncle sent them a small vial of liquid that would remove almost all the powers of the Draconians that were bestowed upon Lance and Sakura. Sakura had Lance drink it and he lost most of his powers, though kept his telepathic abilities and his Draconian wings.

Following this, they received a letter that explained that Sakura's friends had been taken hostage by her grandfather and planned a rescue mission. Sakura originally wanted to go alone, but Lance disagreed and Sakura, who didn't have time to argue, let him come. Upon arrival at the Ogasawara Mansion, Sakura led Lance to a tree which turned out to be a secret passage to the basement of the mansion. They found and freed Sakura's friends and sister, and Sakura fought her grandfather. Halfway through the fight, Lance told Sakura to check on her friends and take a break. Sakura did as she was told, and returned to the fight, just in time to keep Lance from being beheaded by her grandfather.

However, when both Sakura and her grandfather were going to deal the killing blow to the other, Lance stood between them and was stabbed through the heart with the blow that was meant for Sakura and died in her arms. Wracked with grief and rage over the death of her best friend, Sakura concentrated all her energy into one final blow that sent her grandfather flying and erased his memories of her and Lance being Draconians. Sakura used her Draconian powers to heal Lance's wounds and finished the job by sending his body off in white lights, the only thing left of him being his sword and a pure white feather from his wings.

Now, six months later, Sakura and her adoptive sister Mizuki, who had become her guardian after she was disowned as a child, were taking their monthly trip to visit Lance. Sakura wanted to go alone, she could get there faster by flying, but Mizuki wanted to come along as well so Sakura let her. As they ripped down the highway in Mizuki's navy blue convertible, Sakura thought about Lance and the events that had led up to his death.

Then, a lot of things happened at once. Mizuki swore and slammed on the brakes, sending the convertible in a wide arc, a horn honked loudly, something slammed into Sakura's side of the car and the car began to roll over many times. Mizuki was screaming, horns were honking, the airbags deployed and Sakura was thrown this way and that. She hit her head and the last thing Sakura saw was the cracked windshield and blood dripping into her eyes as she saw the limp and bloodied form of Mizuki lying against the steering wheel, then, her world went black and she knew no more.

* * *

**A/N: hey everybody! okay, so since i finished the prequel, memories of the past, pains of the present (MOP POP) i decided that i would post up the prequel. this is the prologue, which, inm case you didnt catch it earlier, is basically a summary of the prequel so that if you're a strawberry panic fan and dont want to read a maria-sama ga miteru fanfiction, you dont have to. so, R + R and let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 1: New Sister, New School

**Disclaimer: i do not own, nor claim to own, anything strawberry panic. it all belongs to the respective creators.**

**Chapter One: New Sister, New School**

"Astraea Hill?" Nagisa exclaimed looking up to the cathedral top, just visible through the tops of the trees. "No way, It's that far?" She asked, looking up the huge hill and just barely making out the school on top of it.

"Of course it's that far." Sakura said, looking away from the hill indicated and to her adoptive sister.

Sakura's previous adoptive sister, Mizuki Kusumoto, had been in a car crash and died a year ago. Nagisa, one of Sakura's friends at the time, had kept Sakura from falling out of the window in her hospital room after she had fallen asleep sitting on the windowsill. After that Sakura was in her debt, so when the question of where Sakura would go was raised, she opted to live with Nagisa and her parents for a while before she went back to her biological family, Sakura still had problems with them despite the fact that she had made up with her biological sister Sachiko Ogasawara.

"But it's so far!" Nagisa whined as they continued walking up to their new school, dragging Sakura back out of her pains of the past and back to the excitement of the present.

"You're just lazy is all." Sakura said, poking Nagisa in the back, Nagisa was only a year younger than Sakura but the two got along and acted as though they were the same age. "Oh my gosh!" Sakura said looking at her watch. "What time did your aunt say that school started?"

"Nine, why?" Nagisa answered looking at her older sister like she was crazy, Sakura never forgot anything.

"Because it's quarter to nine now!" Sakura exclaimed.

"EH?" Nagisa asked. "We're gonna be late! Come on, hyaku, hyaku!" She yelled as she dashed ahead of Sakura.

"Nagisa! Matte!" Sakura yelled, running as fast as she could to try to catch up with her sister, Nagisa had wheels when she wanted them.

By the time Sakura had reached the top of the hill, Nagisa had already started running ahead because she was so excited about the uniforms. *Of all things to get excited about* Sakura thought sweat-dropping as her sister ran ahead looking left and right and obviously not the front as Nagisa suddenly ran off the edge of the road, disappearing into the trees.

"Nagisa!" Sakura yelled, running up to the place where Nagisa had disappeared. *Why now?* Sakura asked herself as she began a fast-paced, more controlled descent to find her sister. At the bottom Sakura looked around, no sight of Nagisa. Sakura sighed, how was it that Nagisa always got herself into situations like these? "NAGISA!" Sakura yelled, as she walked around aimlessly, attempting to find her sister before school started.

Sakura eventually came to a beautiful lake with golden-yellow sand all around it and she could spot the cathedral right across it. *She wouldn't have gone in, would she have?* Sakura asked herself as she found footprints in the sand and watched them disappear, close to the water. *No,* she decided. *Nagisa would have gone right back to the school, not for a swim.* with that Sakura kept walking along the shoreline, only to trip on her own two feet, as she has on numerous occasions, and fall face first into the cold, and surprisingly deep, lake. The shock of the cold made Sakura gasp which in turn led her to inhale a lot of water. She managed to pull herself up to the surface, hacking and coughing trying to catch her breath. Once she stopped spluttering, she did a few strokes to get back to where she could touch, and then hauled herself out of the lake, cursing her clumsiness and her inability to swim without inhaling five galleons of water.

Once on dry land, Sakura shakily stood to her feet, shivering despite the warmth of the sunny day. She took a few steps forward and collapsed. Her vision blurred and, before she realized what was happening, went black.

* * *

_She was in the woods, walking and confused. "Where am I anyway?" She asked herself, in Nagisa's voice. Everything looked the same to her. Then a stream of sunlight hit her face and she found herself at the edge of a clearing with one tree in the center of it. She walked over to the tree and leaned against it, sighing. She heard a noise and turned to see a silver-haired, golden-eyed beauty, a girl maybe one or two years older than herself. "Ahhh!" She exclaimed, surprised to find someone else here, " Gomensai! I'm a new student here and I..." She got cut off as she had backed up so fast that her bag hit her in the face, the keychain she had given to Nagisa a year ago falling to the ground. As she sat up she watched the older girl pick up her keychain. "Arigatou." She said as the older girl handed her the keychain. Then something unexpected happened, she looked up into the girl's golden eyes and froze. *What's happening to me?* she thought. *Why can't I move?* As she stood there frozen, the older girl leaned in, closer and closer. *Why is this person...* As the thought passed her mind, she passed out._

* * *

"AHHHH!" Sakura sat bolt upright, heart pounding and head spinning. *What the hell was that?* Sakura asked herself, knowing the answer, even though she didn't like it. *More importantly,* She thought, shoving the thought of what just happened to the back of her head to deal with later. *WHO the hell was that?* As she thought this, the image of the girl with silver hair popped into her head and Sakura was filled with an uncontrollable anger. *I don't care who she is!* Sakura thought furiously. *How dare she do that to Nagisa! When I find her...*

"So you're awake."

Sakura jumped, yanked out of her thoughts and brought back to the present, and turned to the source of the voice that had spoken. It belonged to a girl with short blue hair and dark blue eyes in a black uniform. Sakura assumed that it was Miator's uniform as she remembered Nagisa's aunt telling her that Nagisa and her uniforms when they went to Miator would be black dresses. She also noticed that she was sitting up in a bed in what appeared to be a medical wing.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, looking at the girl, guessing that she was at least a year older than herself.

"Oh, right, how rude of me." The girl said, taking a seat next to Sakura's bed. "My name is Miyuki Rokujou and I'm the Student Council President of Miator Girl's Academy. You are?"

"Sakura Kusumoto," Sakura automatically said, then mentally kicked herself for using Mizuki's name. "I mean, Sakura Aoi." She corrected herself, looking down at her hands. She was thankful when Miyuki didn't ask her why she changed her last name.

"Ah yes," Miyuki said. "You're one of the new transfer students right?"

"Hai," Sakura said. "I'm a second year high school student and my little sister, Nagisa Aoi, is a first year."

"Oh? Nagisa-chan is your sister?" Miyuki asked, sounding somewhat surprised.

"Hai, why? Do you know her?" Sakura asked, looking at Miyuki instead of her hands.

"Not yet no," Miyuki said. "But she's been here in the infirmary all day, just like you, because she passed out in the courtyard this morning and had been sleeping until just a little while ago when her roommate took her on a tour."

"Soka," Sakura said, not mentioning that she knew Nagisa had passed out earlier that day. "Sounds like Nagisa, she didn't get much sleep last night because she was so nervous about today. So why am I here then?"

"You don't remember?" Miyuki asked.

"No, not really," Sakura said, trying to remember. "I remember looking for Nagisa around the lake and..... Oh Lord. The lake! Of course!" She said, smacking her forehead with the palm of her hand as she remembered her worst klutz moment yet.

"Yes the lake," Miyuki said. "You were found along the shoreline by Etoile-sama as she was trying to shirk her duties again." Miyuki said this with some annoyance. "She brought you back here, and you haven't moved since...Tamao-chan thought you were dead when she came in here to get Nagisa-chan, the nurse said that if you had gotten here five minutes later, you would have died of hypothermia."

"Soka..." Sakura said, realizing that she must have worried Nagisa just as much as she had Nagisa's roommate. "I should probably go find Nagisa-chan then, she'll be freaked out, sometimes I think she's the older sister she worries so much." As Sakura stood up to go to the door, she realized that she was only wearing an oversized t-shirt. "Umm....where are my clothes?" She asked, looking around.

"They're drying; you can borrow that uniform there while we go to the dorms." Miyuki said, motioning to a set of clothes set on a chair on the opposite side of the bed. Sakura walked over and picked them up. She then went behind a curtain and began to put them on with some difficulty. "They may be a little big for you," Miyuki was saying. "You haven't been measured completely yet so we have been unable to order uniforms for you and your sister."

"Umm...Miyuki-sama?" Sakura asked before Miyuki could give her any more information, her uniform seemed wrong somehow.

"No need to be so formal." Miyuki said. "Just call me Miyuki, if you must use an honorific, then use –san."

"Hai, Miyuki-san?"

"Yes?"

"Can you give me a hand? My uniform seems wrong." As she said this, Sakura stepped out from behind the curtain and she could tell that Miyuki was trying her best not to laugh.

"It's wrong all right." Miyuki said, stifling her laughter and walking over to Sakura and beginning to unbutton the uniform. "You put it on backwards and...wow, how did you manage this mess? I can hardly blame you though, out of all three schools, Miator's uniform is the hardest to put on until you've had some practice."

"Arigatou," Sakura said, blushing slightly as Miyuki put her uniform on properly and began to button it back up.

"Not a problem," Miyuki said, and then stood back in front of Sakura to see how the uniform looked. "That's interesting." Miyuki said.

"What is?" Sakura asked, looking down at her as she didn't have a mirror.

"I thought this uniform would be too big on you as it belongs to Etoile-sama, a sixth-grader, a third year high school student, but it seems to fit you quite well. Come, I'll take you to the uniform shop and we'll order you're uniforms, I'm sure Tamao-chan has already done so with Nagisa-chan. After that I'll take you to the dorms."

"Hai," Sakura said as she followed Miyuki out of the room.

After they had ordered Sakura's uniforms, two winter sets and two spring sets, Miyuki and Sakura started heading towards the Strawberry Dorms.

"There is a strict curfew at the dorms." Miyuki told Sakura as they walked. "You must be inside the dorm grounds by 6:00pm. If you don't follow this curfew you will be locked out of the grounds until the head sister comes to unlock the gate. You will then go to her office and be punished by her. It is wise never to get on her bad side, understand?"

"Hai, Miyuki-san," Sakura said, making a mental note to make sure that Nagisa always got to the dorms in time for curfew. After that, the two fell into silence and Sakura reflected on the vision she had earlier. She couldn't call it a dream anymore because she knew that it was a vision she got from Nagisa's point of view, even though she hadn't had one for almost a year, she knew a vision when she saw one. What bothered Sakura the most though was not the fact she had a vision, it was the vision itself and the mysterious girl who may, or may not, have kissed Nagisa, the thought made Sakura's blood boil with fury.

"Here we are." Miyuki said, bringing Sakura out of her thoughts. She looked ahead of her to see that they were standing in front of a gorgeous building with a green roof and surrounded by a wall and many trees. A pathway from the open gates led up to the building. "Come along." Miyuki said. "I'll take you to your dorm room."

As they walked inside, Sakura noticed lots of stairs and that the hallways were empty. "Where is everyone?" She asked.

"Either in the lounges, their rooms or the dining hall." Miyuki answered. "It is almost six-o-clock and six-thirty is dinner."

"Soka..." Sakura said, looking around and drinking in every detail of the building's architecture. After climbing a few sets of stairs, Miyuki stopped in front of a closed door and handed Sakura a key.

"This is your room," she explained. "I apologize but you do not have a roommate as before you transferred the fifth-grade class had an equal number of boarding students.

"That's fine," Sakura said. "I can't get around a lot during the first few days of a new month due to a condition I've had since I was little. A roommate for me would just make things awkward. But thank you for the concern."

"Soka." Miyuki said, wondering what Sakura's condition might be, but decided not to press the matter. "All right then, as I said before, dinner is at six-thirty in the dining hall. You can change back into your regular clothes as I see a first-grader brought them up here for you," she said, motioning towards one of the two beds where Sakura's clothes, now dry, lay. "Or you can stay in that uniform, whichever you decide. If you will excuse me, I have to go pick up your sister, I'll let her know that you're all right."

"Arigatou, Miyuki-san." Sakura said, bowing as Miyuki left. After the door closed, Sakura flopped on one of the beds and fell asleep.

When Sakura woke up it was six-twenty-five. She realized she only had five minutes to shower and get ready for dinner as she couldn't go looking like she had just jumped in a lake, even though technically that was what happened. After showering she changed back into the clothes she was wearing when she fell in. They consisted of a green and cream, long-sleeved sailor collar shirt, white socks that reached her knees, black leather ballet style dress shoes and a pleated green skirt that went just below her knees. Sakura looked in the mirror and sighed, recognizing that, wearing her Lillian uniform with her blonde hair black again and her violet coloured contacts gone, she looked exactly like her biological sister Sachiko, who would now be Rosa Chinensis, along with Rei, now Rosa Foetida and Shimako, now Rosa Gigantea of the Yamayurikai at Lillian, as Youko, the former Rosa Chinensis, as well as the other two Rosas, Eriko the former Rosa Foetida, and Sei the former Rosa Gigantea, had graduated and moved on to university.

*I wonder what they're all up to.* Sakura thought and immediately shook her head. *Don't think about that,* she ordered herself. *That's all in the past, you have to move on.* With that in mind, Sakura walked out of her room and headed towards the dining hall, wondering what Nagisa's roommate was like.

* * *

**A/N: so here's chapter one, yay! chapters two and three are already written, but you'll have to R + R if you want to get them and find out what happens next!**


	3. Chapter 2: New Friends, New Foes

**Disclaimer: i do not own, nor claim to own, anything strawberry panic. it all belongs to the respective creators.**

**Chapter Two: New Friends, New Foes**

"Hey, hey, what are the transfer students like?" An orange-haired Lulim student asked her friend. Everyone had gathered in the dining hall and it was common knowledge that Miator had just gained two new transfer students. One was supposedly a fourth-grader and the other was supposed to be a fifth-grader.

"They're probably very pretty." Her green-haired friend replied.

"I'm so curious!" The orange-haired girl exclaimed.

"Does Oshibaru know about the transfer students?" A third Lulim girl asked her brown teddy bear.

Just then, the green-haired girl's elbow bumped her glass of water. Before it could topple over though, a hand came and steadied it.

"Oh, sorry," The girl apologized, looking up to see a black-haired girl with twin red bows in her hair whose hand had caught the glass.

"It's okay." The girl responded, smiling. "Just be more careful."

"Do you know about the transfer students, Tsukidate-sama?" A Miator student asked the girl sitting next to her.

"No...Um...Yes...That..." The blue-haired girl said, stumbling over her words in her embarrassment.

"Did you hear about the transfer students?" A navy blue-haired Spican asked her friend.

"I have no interest in Miator's transfer students." The pink-haired girl said, acting rather offended at the question.

"Hikari, you can't like anyone else other than me." A green-haired Spica student told her blonde friend.

"Yaya-chan, people will be mistaken about us." The blonde replied, blushing furiously.

"Transfer students huh?" A blue-haired Spican said to herself as she looked out the window.

* * *

"Here is the dining hall," Miyuki explained to Nagisa and Sakura as the three of them, plus Tamao, stood outside a pair of double doors. "Before you start eating, please greet Etoile first."

"Hai!" Both Nagisa and Sakura said simultaneously and Miyuki opened the doors.

As soon as the doors opened, everyone in the dining hall turned around to look at the new students. Most of them smiled welcomingly at Nagisa, who felt like everyone's eyes were piercing her, but as soon as Sakura stepped into the room in all her cool indifference, there was a collective gasp from the group as everyone stared at the beautiful, not to mention confident girl, as she strode alongside her younger sister.

*They're all staring at onee-sama,* Nagisa thought, glancing at her sister out of the corner of her eye and admiring the confidence that positively radiated off of her.

*They're all staring at me,* Sakura thought to herself, heaving a mental sigh. *Why do they always stare at me? Kami-sama, I feel even more like Sachiko onee-sama now.*

"These are the transfer students, coming to greet Etoile." Miyuki said, dragging Sakura out of her thoughts. They had stopped in front of a trio of Miator students who seemed to be surrounding a fourth. The three girls parted to reveal a blue-haired Miator student that Sakura realized was not the Etoile. Nagisa however, thought the exact opposite.

"She just left..." The blue-haired girl started to say but Nagisa, in her ever-increasing nervousness, cut her off.

"Um...Nice to meet you Etoile-sama!" Nagisa said, bowing to the girl as Sakura, noticing Nagisa's mistake immediately tried to stifle her laughter. "I just transferred her today," Nagisa continued, still maintaining her bow. "I'm a first...No...I'm a fourth-grader, Aoi Nagisa. Um...That... Please take care of me!" She finished, bowing even deeper as Sakura vainly tried to keep herself from bursting into laughter.

"Nagisa-chan, you're mistaken!" Tamao exclaimed, finally pointing out Nagisa's error, forcing Sakura to regain her composure, not that anyone had noticed her efforts to maintain a straight face during Nagisa's speech.

Nagisa heaved a breath of relief just as a Miator student came up behind her without either her or Sakura noticing until she spoke. "We meet again." The young woman said directly in Nagisa's ear. Nagisa opened her eyes and looked to the side, finally noticing that someone had come to stand so close to her. Sakura noticed it too and tried to hide her annoyance, but still wound up frowning slightly.

"AHHH!" Nagisa exclaimed in shock, jumping a few feet away from the girl who had spoken in her ear. She looked at the silver-haired girl for a second before recognition registered in her eyes. "You're the one from this morning!" She exclaimed, pointing her finger at the girl.

"Oh, you remembered? It's my honour." The girl said, smirking slightly, annoying Sakura even more.

"How can I forget?" Nagisa asked incredulously. "Suddenly coming up so near to me, and then...then..." Nagisa trailed off, blushing as an image of what had happened that morning popping into her head. "You can't do this!" She cried as the girl stepped up to her and she stepped back. "Where do you think this is? You're right in front of Etoile-sama!" She exclaimed, becoming more embarrassed by the second.

"Etoile?" The girl asked, leaning in and crossing her arms in front of her, the same way that Sakura herself sometimes did, a habit she picked up from Sachiko.

"That's right!" Nagisa said, pointing at the blue-haired Miator student she had talked to before the silver-haired woman had shown up. "Don't you know? She's a very great person, even greater than the Student Council President!" This declaration almost had Sakura laughing again as the four girls from earlier looked confused and Miyuki put her hand to her head in exasperation. "That's why..." Nagisa said, continuing on, completely missing the looks she was getting. "That's why...at this place...in front of someone this famous..." She was cut off as the silver-haired girl stepped closer, forcing Nagisa against the edge of one of the long tables. The two girls looked at each other for a few moments, and then the silver-haired girl stepped forward, forcing Nagisa back into the present. "You...You can't do this!" She cried, throwing up an arm towards the girl who caught her wrist like it was nothing.

"Who says I can't?" The girl asked, pulling Nagisa closer to her.

"That would be me." Sakura said, finally having enough of the silver-haired girl and stepping between her and Nagisa. "If you don't want to have to deal with me, then I suggest you leave Nagisa alone right now." She demanded, her fury-filled blue eyes locking with the other girl's amber ones.

"Onee-sama..."Nagisa said, looking up at Sakura gratefully.

"Sister?" The silver-haired woman asked, confused. "How is that possible? You two look absolutely nothing alike."

"If you must know, I'm adopted." Sakura informed the girl, ignoring the fact that she was declaring this to the entire student body of all three schools. "Last year there was a car crash, of which I am the only survivor, and I was adopted by the Aois after I got out of the hospital."

"I see..." The silver-haired girl said. "Then, since you're not really related, it's okay for me to do this." In a matter of seconds, Sakura was in the same position Nagisa had been in before she interfered.

"Onee-sama!" Nagisa exclaimed, realizing that Sakura might not be able to move like Nagisa herself had been unable to when she locked eyes with the silver-haired girl.

"Nagisa," Sakura said, not breaking her gaze with the other girl. "Go stand with Tamao and let me deal with this." Nagisa nodded her head and joined Tamao as they, and the rest of the dining hall, waited to see what would happen.

"This is a first," the silver-haired girl said, looking down at the black-haired beauty in her arms who was glaring at her slightly. "I've never had anyone keep a steady gaze with me without swooning."

"Get used to it then." Sakura replied bluntly, still glaring at the other girl.

"Oh, a smart mouth," the girl said, smirking slightly. "I like it." She grabbed Sakura's chin and leaned in as if she was about to kiss her. The next thing she knew, she no longer held the other girl close to her and the arm that had been holding Sakura's chin was twisted behind her back, a hand with a grip of steel clamped around her wrist.

"Try that again," Sakura said, tightening her grip on the other girl's arm to emphasize her point, "and I'll break your arm."

"Is that a threat?" The silver-haired girl asked, looking at Sakura out of the corner of her eye.

"It's whatever you think it is." Sakura replied evasively, letting go of the girl's arm. "Take it as a threat, a warning, whatever. Now, if you'll excuse me." She turned to where Nagisa and Tamao were standing slightly behind her, Miyuki standing slightly behind them, staring at her in open shock. "Nagisa,"

"Hai, onee-sama?" Nagisa asked, becoming nervous at the look Sakura had in her eyes.

"I seem to have lost my appetite so I'm going back to my room. If you need anything, you know where to find me. You," here Sakura turned to glare at the silver-haired woman again, "stay away from Nagisa, I'll know if you try anything and if you so much as lay a finger on her, you will regret it and I don't give a damn in hell that you're the Etoile. Kapish?" With that, Sakura turned around and walked out of the dining hall, swinging the double doors shut behind her.

Sakura went up to her room and collapsed on her bed, completely drained. Even though she didn't show it, seeing that girl face-to-face and up close had sparked something inside her and she couldn't figure out what it was. For some reason, the Etoile had looked exceedingly familiar to her, as if she had known her at one point in her life. _*But that's impossible*_ She thought to herself, staring at the ceiling. _*I saw her through Nagisa's eyes earlier and didn't feel that strong familiarity that I did when I saw her in person. Plus, I only came to Miator today, so I can't have known her, could I?*_ Sakura sighed and pondered this thought as she got off the bed and walked to the window. _*Where do I know her from?*_ She asked herself, deciding that she must have met the girl somewhere before, as she put her hand on the glass. _*Where?*_

* * *

Nagisa sighed, she was sitting in the dining hall with Tamao and all anybody seemed able to talk about was the spectacle of Sakura, not only pinning the Etoile's arm behind her back in the blink of an eye, but also so bluntly, not to mention boldly, and openly rejecting the Etoile.

"Nagisa-chan?" Tamao asked as Nagisa heaved another sigh.

"Hmm?" Nagisa asked.

"Sakura-san sure is protective of you isn't she?" Tamao asked, guessing the reason for her new roommate's repeated sighs. She too, had heard the open discussions about Nagisa's older, adopted, sister.

"Yea she is," Nagisa agreed, "but she's always been like that, ever since..." Nagisa stopped, wondering how much she should tell Tamao about her sister.

"Ever since what?" Tamao asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Well, after the car accident, when she was in the hospital, one-sama was really quite depressed." Nagisa explained. "My mother had known her sister since before the accident because she was interviewed by her for numerous columns and articles that her sister wrote and they became fast friends and she got to know Sakura because of it. Anyway, onee-sama was highly depressed over her sister's death and after I saved her from falling out her window, she fell asleep on the ledge and almost fell, so when the question was raised as to where she would go, she opted to stay with me and my parents for a while. Since then, she's been super-protective of me, but not overtly so. We get along great and she's really fun to be around, she always finds a way to make me laugh and I swear that her smile is contagious. I've never heard her laugh, but she sings with a voice like bells."

"I see," Tamao said, smiling a little. "She sounds like a remarkable person."

"Yea she is." Nagisa agreed, smiling, and the two went back to their meal.

* * *

Meanwhile, Etoile Shizuma Hanazono was rubbing her wrist that had been held in Sakura's grip of iron and getting an earful from Miyuki.

"Honestly," Miyuki was saying as she and her best friend ate at the table with the other Student Councils from Lulim and Spica. "I don't know why you even tried something like that, and with a new student no less! Have you no respect for your title at all?"

"Of course I do." Shizuma stated in her detached way. "It's just that..."

"It's just that what?" Miyuki asked, pressing her friend to explain further.

"I couldn't help it." Shizuma finished lamely. "She looked so much like her that I couldn't stop myself, even though she's been gone for well over ten or eleven years now."

"Ten or eleven?" Miyuki asked confused. "Who on earth are you talking about?"

"Her little sister," Shizuma said. "When I was little, before I came to Miator, I was really good friends with the daughters of some family friends. The younger one was only a year younger than me and was my favourite of the two. She was always smiling and laughing and I swear it was contagious. The older one was the same age as me and she was always happy too, though not as crazy as her little sister. Then, everything changed."

"Changed?" Miyuki asked. "How?"

"The younger one disappeared, the last time I saw her was when I was seven or eight and when I went over the day after the last day I saw her, she was gone. No one told me where she went and I thought she had died, the way her sister had become cold, indifferent and stopped smiling altogether."

"So, is she dead?" Miyuki asked carefully, not wanting to give her friend bad memories.

"No," Shizuma replied, shaking her head, "she's still alive, but living with somebody else now. I don't really know what happened, but for some reason, she just decided to leave and was being taken care of by a young woman who had become her guardian in place of her family. I just..."

"Miss her." Miyuki finished and Shizuma nodded.

"When I saw that girl, the look in her eyes as she looked at her sister reminded me so much of her that I forgot for a moment that it wasn't her and I..." She trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, in any case," Miyuki said, deciding to end this topic of conversation, "next time, do us all a favour and don't forget." Shizuma merely nodded again and resumed her meal, all the while considering how much the new transfer student looked like her old, lost, childhood friend.

* * *

**A/N: hey people. not much to say today so just R + R, or you wont get the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 3: New Mystery, New Revelations

**Disclaimer: i do not own, nor claim to own, anything strawberry panic. it all belongs to the respective creators.**

**Chapter Three: New Mystery, New Revelations**

The next day dawned bright and early and Sakura was still thinking about the Etoile and how she could possibly have known her. She had decided the night before that, in fact, she did know the other girl because that was what her gut was telling her and, ever since the episode with Lance, the Yamayurikai and her Grandfather, she trusted her gut more than she trusted her heart. However, this did not mean that she stopped thinking about it, in fact, the more she thought about it, the more confused she got, the more confused she got, the more she thought about it. Nagisa, taking note of her sister's more-than-thoughtful mood, finally got up the nerve to ask Sakura what was bothering her during breakfast that morning.

"Nothing in particular," Sakura had responded, shoving some scrambled eggs into her mouth. "Just that, for some reason, I feel a strong sense of familiarity towards Etoile-sama, as if I had known her very well at one point or if I had been a friend of hers before."

"But that's impossible," Nagisa pointed out as Tamao listened with interest. "We only met her for the first time yesterday, how can you possibly know her?"

"That's what I keep thinking," Sakura said, continuing to eat. "But the more I think about it, the more weird it seems that I would have such a strong feeling of connection between the two of us, and you and I both know how much I trust my sixth sense."

"I know, but still, it seems a little farfetched to me." Nagisa stated, shoving her own scrambled eggs into her mouth and ending the conversation.

Throughout the course of the next week and a half, Sakura continued to try to solve the puzzle of her feelings of familiarity towards the Etoile and even went so far as to 'accidentally' run into her a few times in hopes of getting a vision or some sort of clue as to why she was feeling the way she was. It wasn't until the end of her second week at Miator that she finally got her answer. It was the last day of classes for the week and Sakura was again eating breakfast in the dining hall with Nagisa and Tamao when Miyuki came up to her on her way to join the Student Council's table.

"Aoi-san," Miyuki said, coming up to the girls shortly after they sat down.

"Hai?" Both Sakura and Nagisa answered at the same time, looking up at Miyuki.

"The Head Sister just gave me a letter for you," Miyuki said, handing a slim envelope to Sakura. "She said that the young lady who delivered it requested that it be brought to you and that you open it immediately."

"Arigatou Miyuki-san," Sakura said, taking the envelope and paling slightly as she recognized the handwriting on it. Miyuki bowed and left Sakura to open the letter herself. Sakura gently opened the envelope and realized that there, along with a letter, was a book. She removed the letter, read the first two sentences and became stark-white.

"Onee-sama?" Nagisa asked, noticing her sister's face had suddenly drained of colour and turned white as a sheet.

"Excuse me," Sakura said, standing up so quickly that she knocked her chair over, gaining the attention of everyone in the dining hall. "I-I have to go." With that, she turned on her heel and sped out the dining hall as fast as decorum permitted, something Sachiko had taught her to do, as all eyes followed her. Once she was alone in one of the upstairs lounges, she read the whole letter over.

"_Sakura,_" it read, "_I hope this letter finds you well and settled into your new environment, however, I have, although I hate to be the one bringing it, some bad news for you. Your grandmother passed away just a few days ago and Sachiko is a complete mess. She, your grandmother, wanted to see you before she passed on, but your grandfather would hear none of you being brought home, no matter how desperately anyone pleaded with him. Sachiko is, shall we say, an emotional disaster and won't let anyone near her. There is a bright side to all this however. Before she passed on, even though she did not get to see you one last time, your grandmother got to see an old friend that she had been missing for quite a while and she went to Maria-sama peacefully. Sachiko is doing okay, considering the circumstances, and Yumi just arrived a few minutes ago to give her support so that should help considerably. Before she lost it, Sachiko was sane enough to get one of your old photo albums to send with this letter so that you could catch up on old, and probably forgotten, memories of the life the two of you shared together in your early years before, as Sei put it, all hell broke loose. We all miss you and hope that, once your grandfather either passes on or allows you back (Sei's money is on him dying before he brings you back), you come home and back to Lillian so that you get to graduate from there like everyone else. Sachiko requests that you write back and keep in close contact with her as she doesn't want to lose you because of distance again, her words, not mine. Write back and come home soon. _

_Love, Youko._"

Sakura read and re-read the letter three times before it finally all sunk into her head. She folded the letter from her sister's onee-sama back up and put it back in the envelope it came in, along with the photo album she didn't open. Sakura didn't realize she was crying until she felt gentle arms wrap around her waist from behind. She turned around and discovered that the one holding her was none other than Chikaru; a fifth-year from Lulim Sakura had met the previous week when Nagisa had been playing hide-and-seek with her friends and picked the wrong room. There was a meeting of the three student councils of Astraea and Miyuki, the president of Miator and Shion, the president of Spica had been arguing and Chikaru, the president of Lulim had been watching, waiting for the meeting to end when Nagisa had burst in. Seeing Chikaru's concerned face, so much like Mizuki's and Sachiko's, Sakura couldn't take it anymore and just let everything out, burying her tear-filled face into Chikaru's chest as the other girl stroked her hair and murmured soothing words Sakura couldn't comprehend.

When she was calm enough to form coherent sentences again, Sakura showed the letter she received to Chikaru as the other girl guided the pair of them to a couch and sat down.

"No wonder you're so upset," Chikaru said, handing the letter back to Sakura who folded it back up and put it back in the envelope with the photo album. "Being adopted but knowing that your real family hates you so much that they won't bring you home to see your dying grandmother once more has got to be rough."

"Yea," Sakura agreed, "but not everyone in my biological family hates me. My mother, grandmother and my older sister care for me very much...even though none of them did anything to keep me from being disowned." As she said this, she opened the envelope and removed the photo album.

"What's that?" Chikaru asked, indicating the album and effectively changing the topic, for which Sakura was grateful as it gave her an excuse to leave memory lane.

"It's a photo album," Sakura explained as she opened and began flipping through it randomly. "My older sister gave it to her upperclassman, her onee-sama, to enclose with the letter. She said it was to remind me of the mostly forgotten memories of what my childhood was like before I was disowned."

"Is this you guys then?" Chikaru asked, indicating a picture of two little girls, identical except for the few inches of height difference, one in front of the other, both smiling happily at the camera.

"Yea," Sakura said, studying the picture and vaguely remembering the backyard picnic she was on with her mother and sister when the picture was taken. "The one in the front is me and the one behind me is my older sister Sachiko." Sakura smiled softly at the picture of her sister, remembering what she had said before Sakura had left with Nagisa.

* * *

_*Flashback*_

"_Sakura!"_

_Sakura turned around, shocked, at the familiar voice yelling her name across the terminal. She was just about to pass through the gates that would take her to the plane that would take her to Nagisa's aunt's house and, eventually, her new school Miator when the voice she knew so well yelled at her. She stopped walking and motioned for Nagisa to get on the plane ahead of her. By the time Nagisa had left, the owner of the voice who had yelled at her had arrived to stand, a little breathless, in front of her._

"_Onee-sama, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked, surprised, but happy , to see her elder sister Sachiko standing in front of her._

"_You didn't think I'd let you leave without saying good-bye did you?" Sachiko asked, answering the question with another question, something she seemed to do quite frequently._

"_Well, actually yea I did," Sakura admitted. "I thought you'd be at everyone's graduation ceremony."_

"_I was, but I ditched early to come see you off," Sachiko explained, trying to hide the hurt in her voice, but not succeeding very well._

"_All passengers on flight 786 to Astraea Hill now boarding," a female voice came on over the intercom._

"_That's me," Sakura said, stating the obvious. "I guess I'll see you around then onee-sama," as she turned to leave, Sachiko grabbed her wrist, spun her around and enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. _

"_Come back as soon as you can," Sachiko whispered, her mouth right next to Sakura's ear. "Write to me every day and come back," here her voice cracked and became thick with emotion. "Come back to me, I wouldn't be able to handle losing you again. I love you."_

"_I love you too, onee-sama," Sakura said, hugging Sachiko back just as fiercely as she fought back her tears. "I love you too. I have to go now," she said, giving Sachiko another hug as the other girl kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Say hi to everyone for me," Sakura said, moving through the gates, "and whatever you do, don't worry," she told her sister, before walking through the gates and onto the plane where she joined an excited Nagisa and began the flight to Miator._

_*End Flashback* _

* * *

"Who're these girls then?" Chikaru's question brought Sakura out of her reverie as she looked at the picture Chikaru was pointing at. It featured three girls around the ages of seven and eight. Two were identical; black hair, deep blue eyes, beautiful skin and smiling faces, the other girl also bore beautiful skin and a smiling face, but her hair was a shimmering silver and her eyes a wonderful shade of amber. The silver-haired girl had her arm around the shoulders of the smaller of the black-haired girls, while the taller black-haired girl held the smaller one around the waist in a kind of half-hug, the smaller black-haired girl had one arm around the waist of the taller girl and the other hand holding the silver-haired girl's forearm.

"Well, the two black-haired girls are me and onee-sama," Sakura said, studying the picture and vaguely recognizing the silver-haired girl. "I have no clue who the other one is though, I don't even remember when this picture was taken."

"Really?" Chikaru asked, only slightly surprised, then she started giggling uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" Sakura asked, thoroughly confused by Chikaru's behaviour.

"Well, it's kind of funny, if you look closely, it almost looks like you're being fought over by those two," Chikaru said, indicating Sachiko and the girl Sakura couldn't remember.

"Hey yea, you're right," Sakura said, looking at the picture a little closer and begging to giggle along with Chikaru. "Let's see who that silver-haired girl is, anybody who tries to pick a fight with Sachiko is pretty brave, I want to know who in their right mind has the guts to do that." With that, Sakura gently removed the picture from the album and turned it over, recognizing the graceful cursive of her mother, reading the caption that had been written on the back. It read: _Sachiko-chan, Sakura-chan and Shizuma-chan: The Triple Threat the day after Sakura-chan's seventh birthday._

"'Sachiko-chan, Sakura-chan and Shizuma-chan'," Sakura read to herself, forgetting that Chikaru was still there. "Shizuma-chan..." Sakura thought, trying to place the familiar name. "Shizuma-chan...Shizuma-chan...OH MY GOD!" She exclaimed, making Chikaru jump, as she realized where she had heard the name before and why the silver-haired girl had looked so familiar to her before. "OH MY GOD!" She repeated. "I don't believe this! No wonder I thought I recognized her! It's really her!"

"What are you talking about?" Chikaru asked her.

"Sorry Chikaru-chan," Sakura said, hurriedly closing the photo album and putting it back in the envelope with the letter from Youko. "I gotta go, could you put this back in my room for me? It's on the right-hand side, next to Miyuki-sama's room on Miator's side of the dorms." Sakura asked, handing the envelope to Chikaru.

"Sure," Chikaru agreed, still completely confused by Sakura's actions.

"Thanks," Sakura said, smiling. "I'll explain everything to you later, I promise!" With that, Sakura blew through the door like a whirlwind, the photo of the three girls still in her hand, and disappeared.

"What a strange girl," Chikaru mused to herself, smiling, before shaking her head and heading towards Sakura's room to deposit the envelope that Sakura had asked her to drop off.

* * *

"Onee-chan!" Nagisa called, "Onee-chan, where are you?"

"Did you find her yet?" Tamao asked, appearing from a side door and walking up to her roommate.

"No, not yet," Nagisa replied. After Sakura had so obviously left the dining hall a little upset after receiving the letter, Nagisa had begun to worry and she and Tamao had been looking around for the black-haired fifth-year since. "I don't where she could have gone, it's not like her to just up and disappear on me."

"Who's disappeared?" A voice asked, making both Nagisa and Tamao jump and turn towards the right where the voice was coming from. It was Shizuma and Miyuki. Shizuma was the one who had spoken.

"It's Sakura-san, Etoile-sama," Tamao replied, voicing both girls' worry over Sakura. "Rokujou-sama gave her a letter during breakfast, she read it and took off. We haven't seen her since."

"Really?" Miyuki asked, starting to worry a little bit too. "Why would that be?"

"I think that something in the letter she got made her upset," Nagisa clarified, bringing everyone's attention to her. "Onee-san recognized the writing on it and I think it was from her elder sister."

"Her elder sister?"Miyuki asked, her curiosity piqued with interest.

"Yes, her biological sister. Even though she was disowned, she still remains close with her sister and I think that the letter might have contained something about what is going on back at her family's house, something upsetting. I'm worried about her."

"Don't worry Nagisa-chan," Tamao said, squeezing her friend's hand. "I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere." Just then, the group heard a yell coming from upstairs.

"NAGISA!"

"Told you so." Tamao said, turning to Nagisa.

"Onee-sama!" Nagisa hollered back, "I'm down here!" The group watched as Sakura's head peeked around the corner at the top of the stairs to look down at the group.

"There you are!" She exclaimed, rounding the corner and putting her hand on the top rail of the banister.

"Onee-chan! Don't!" Nagisa cried out with fright, as she saw that Sakura was going to jump over the railing, but it was too late. Sakura leaped over the banister and, holding her skirt down as she fell, landed with all the grace of a cat on the floor a few feet in front of Nagisa and the rest of the stunned group.

"Nagisa! I need to talk to you!" Sakura exclaimed as she ran over to Nagisa. "Excuse us," she said, bowing quickly to Shizuma, Miyuki and Tamao before dragging Nagisa into a spare room. "You are not going to believe this!" She exclaimed as she closed the door behind them.

"After what you just did, I think I'll be able to believe almost anything," Nagisa replied, getting over the shock of seeing her sister jump from the top of the staircase to the floor without killing herself.

"I still don't think you're going to believe this, it's almost too crazy for even me to believe," Sakura said, reaching Nagisa and handing her the picture she took out of the photo album Sachiko sent her.

"What is it?" Nagisa asked, examining the picture and realizing that it was a picture of Sakura, her elder sister and a silver-haired girl that looked vaguely familiar to her.

"It's a picture, of me, onee-sama and one of our friends right after I turned eight," Sakura explained patiently, but barely able to contain her excitement.

"I see that, but why are you so excited about this?" Nagisa asked, still slightly confused.

"Do you remember our breakfast conversation a few days ago?" Sakura asked, taking a leaf out of Sachiko's book and answering a question with a question.

"Yes," Nagisa said, not sure where Sakura was going with this.

"Well, I now know why my sixth sense was going crazy," Sakura stated, pointing to the picture. "I didn't realize it at first, but when I read the caption on the back that my mother had written on, I remembered."

"Remembered what?" Nagisa asked, still confused.

"I remembered that, when Sachiko and I were little, my uncle had been doing business with another family company just as powerful as the Ogasawaras. My uncle and parents became good friends with their business partners and their daughter was the same age as Sachiko, a year older than me. The three of us became fast friends and I remember always having so much fun whenever she came over...until I was disowned and never saw or heard from her again." Sakura explained.

"And this has to do with our earlier conversation how?" Nagisa asked, still not getting it.

"The silver-haired girl in that picture is the daughter of that company," Sakura explained patiently. "Do you know what her name is?" She asked Nagisa.

"No," Nagisa answered, getting a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Her name was Shizuma, and the other company was run by her parents, the Hanazonos." Sakura said.

"So you're saying that...?" Nagisa asked, beginning to catch on slowly.

"The girl in the picture is Shizuma Hanazono."

* * *

**A/N: not much to say on this chapter...might be a little rushed and i apologize for that. thanks to 69 for being the onlyt person to review, and to those of you who liked MOP POP...YOU BETTER START READING THIS IF YOU WANT MORE! anyway, if you want to find out what happens next just hit that little button and R + R!**


	5. Chapter 4: New Secrets

**Disclaimer: i do not own, nor claim to own, anything strawberry panic. it all belongs to the respective creators.**

**Chapter Four: New Secrets**

"Wait, what did you say?" Nagisa asked, still not catching on completely.

"I said 'the girl in the picture is Shizuma Hanazono'" Sakura repeated. "Who do we know here who goes by that name? Who do we know who looks similar to the girl in the picture?"

"No..." Nagisa began, realization dawning on her. "No way...you mean...?"

"Yes," Sakura confirmed, glad that Nagisa had finally caught on. "The girl in the picture, the girl I spent the first few years of my life with is Etoile-sama. That's why I felt like I knew her, and why I didn't recognize her immediately, because I had basically grown up with her and then never saw her again until now."

"Wow," Nagisa said, for lack of anything else to say. "Do you think Etoile-sama recognized you too then?"

"It's hard to say," Sakura said, shrugging and leaning against a table behind her. "It might explain why she was so forward with me our first night here, Shizuma had always been a sort of playgirl and her favourite pastime was teasing me to get a rile out of Sachiko onee-sama."

"Huh?" Nagisa asked. "How does that explain it?"

"Well, if she thought she recognized me as one of the girls she grew up with, then she might have had more reason to do what she did than just her playgirl nature." Sakura explained, thinking of the many times Shizuma had teased both her and Sachiko to no end.*Kind of like Sei*, Sakura thought amusedly as she thought about how those two were so similar in reasons and actions, but so different in personalities.

"Oh, I see." Nagisa said. "So, are you going to tell her?"

"Tell her what?" Sakura asked, still walking down the memory lane of her childhood before, as Sei would put it, all hell broke loose.

"Tell Etoile-sama who you are, and how you know each other," Nagisa clarified.

"WHAT?" Sakura exclaimed, whipping her head around to look at Nagisa so fast Nagisa thought she would get whiplash. "NO! NO FREAKING WAY!" Sakura exclaimed, looking both horrified and like a deer caught in the headlights at the same time.

"Why ever not?" Nagisa asked. "It's plainly obvious that you missed her, and still do, why wouldn't you tell her?"

"Because," Sakura said, calming down and looking at Nagisa straight in the eye. "There are things about me that I would have to tell her if I were to explain who I was. Things that I don't particularly like people to know about. It took me almost ten years to even tell Sachiko about it, and I always told her everything! That's what got me disowned in the first place and put me into this whole mess."

"So, there are things about you that I don't know?" Nagisa asked, somewhat hurt that her adopted older sister didn't trust her enough to explain things.

"Yes, yes there are," Sakura said, looking out the window. "It's not because I don't trust you with my secrets, quite the opposite in fact."

"What do you mean?" Nagisa asked.

"I trust you Nagisa," Sakura said, "but I don't trust myself. If I tell you, I don't trust myself to keep you safe and out of danger, out of the messes I always seem to be getting myself into. It already happened with my childhood friend, my sister and my closest friends from my old school, I don't want it to happen to you, or to Shizuma, or to anyone else for that matter."

"So, you're not telling Etoile-sama because you're afraid of putting her in danger?" Nagisa asked.

"No," Sakura said. "I'm not going to tell her, not until I am strong enough to protect her. Once I am, maybe I'll tell her, and maybe I'll tell you too, one day, when I can protect those I love...from myself." With that, Sakura ended the conversation there, leaving an unspoken agreement between the two not to tell anyone anything, not until Sakura was ready too.

* * *

"What is taking them so long?" Tamao asked, to no one in particular. Sakura had appeared at the top of the staircase and jumped from the second floor to the ground floor as if she were just jumping a hurdle in gym class. She had grabbed Nagisa and dragged her into a separate room and neither of the girls had come out yet.

"Calm down Suzumi-san," Miyuki said, not unkindly.

"And stop pacing," Shizuma added. "You're making me dizzy."

"But I'm worried," Tamao said, again to no one in particular. "They've been in there almost an hour. If they don't hurry up they're going to be late for class."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not going to class then," the three girls turned around to see Sakura walking towards them.

"Where's Nagisa?" Tamao asked.

"Why are you not going to attend class?" Miyuki wanted to know, then took in Sakura's dishevelled hair and red eyes, something she missed when Sakura came and grabbed Nagisa.

"Nagisa went to get her bag," Sakura said, answering Tamao's question, who immediately ran upstairs to follow her roommate. "I'm not going to class because I refuse to let school get in the way of my personal life." Sakura said, turning to Miyuki.

"Meaning...?" Miyuki asked, not pleased with Sakura's response.

"Meaning I will not let school take me away from my family, especially when they need me the most." Sakura stated.

"Which means...?" Miyuki prompted.

"It means," Sakura said "that the letter you gave me this morning was from the grande soeur of my biological sister, both of whom I went to school with last year. That letter was sent to inform me that my grandmother, whom both myself and my sister were very close to, just passed away recently and to inform me that my sister was an emotional disaster."

"I'm sorry," Shizuma said sympathetically.

"It doesn't matter," Sakura said. "I haven't seen her in over eleven years, it would have been nice of my grandfather to let me come back when she asked for me but what's done is done and I can't change anything. I can't be there for my grandmother, but I can be there for my sister. I'm leaving tonight and I probably won't be back until sometime next week."

"You do know that you have to get permission from the Head Sister to leave campus for that long, don't you?" Miyuki asked, making sure to clarify for Sakura the rules of the dorms.

"She already has," the four girls turned around to see the Head Sister. "Aoi-san explained the situation to me and requested that she be allowed to go home for a period of time and I agreed. I was just on my way to inform you of this Rokujou-san, but it appears that Aoi-san beat me to it." With a curt nod to the three girls, she turned on her heel and left the way she had come.

"How in the world did you get her to give you permission to leave for so long?" Tamao asked Sakura once the Sister was out of earshot.

"I'm very persuasive," Sakura said, "now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go pack. If I know Sachiko, and I do, I could very well be there for longer than I plan.

"What did you say?" Shizuma asked, instantly surprised to hear the name of one of her childhood friends mentioned by the new transfer student.

"I said, 'if I know Sachiko, which I do, I could very well be there for longer than I plan,'" Sakura repeated.

"Who is Sachiko?" Miyuki asked, never hearing the name before.

"She's my onee-sama, my biological older sister." Sakura explained, then left to go pack her things.

* * *

"What was that all about?" Miyuki asked Shizuma as the pair of sixth years watched Sakura climb the stairs.

"I don't believe it," was Shizuma's only response. "It really is her! No wonder..."

"What?" Miyuki asked, getting more and more confused.

"Aoi-san, Aoi-san is really her!" Shizuma was trying hard to get over her shock, but not fully succeeding.

"Shizuma, what on earth are you talking about?" Miyuki asked, having had enough of half explanations for one day.

"Remember when Aoi-san first came to Astraea?" Shizuma asked. "There was that incident in the dining hall during dinner that night and afterwards you asked me why I did such a thing."

"I remember," Miyuki said, not sure where her friend was taking this. "You told me that it was because Aoi-san looked and acted a lot like one of your childhood friends, before you came here, that you hadn't seen in ten or eleven years and that you just couldn't help yourself because you missed her so much."

"That's right," Shizuma confirmed, nodding her head. "Now I know why I felt that way."

"Really? Why?" Miyuki asked, genuinely curious.

"Because Aoi-san really is that friend. The friend I haven't seen in so long, the girl I was always closest to growing up around them, the younger sister of Sachiko Ogasawara."

* * *

Sakura was sitting on the stairs that led up to Astraea Hill, the photo album in her hands, as she waited for the taxi that would take her to the airport and, ultimately, her old home. She hoped she hadn't said too much to make Shizuma realize who she really was. As her taxi pulled up and the driver loaded her suitcase, she heard her name being yelled.

"SAKURA!" Sakura turned around at the shout, expecting to see Nagisa or Tamao, but was surprised to see Shizuma running up to her, her silver hair flying behind her as she tried to catch Sakura before she got in the taxi.

"Etoile-sama!" Sakura asked, surprised. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong? Did something happen to Nagisa?"

"I wanted to talk to you, before you left," Shizuma replied, catching her breath. "Nothing is wrong and nothing happened to Aoi-san."

"Well if nothing's wrong, with Nagisa or otherwise, what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to ask you if you..." Shizuma started, then stopped.

"If I...?" Sakura asked, genuinely confused.

"If you were going to stay longer than a week," Shizuma finished. "If so, I have to inform Miyuki so she doesn't murder you when you get back later than she is expecting."

"Oh, well honestly, I'm not sure how long I'll be staying, it could be anywhere between four days and four weeks. If it is longer I shall send word to Nagisa to inform you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a plane to catch. Good day Etoile-sama." With that, Sakura gave a quick bow to Shizuma, climbed into the taxi and headed to the airport and the flight home.

* * *

Shizuma watched Sakura climb into the taxi and drive away, mentally kicking herself for chickening out the entire time. With a sigh that was half exasperation and half frustration, she turned around and started heading back to Miator, and the lecture from Miyuki she knew would come as soon as she ran into her long-time friend. She didn't have to wait long, by the time she returned to the school Miyuki was walking out to meet her, 'lecture-time' written all over her face.

"Shizuma! Where on earth have you been?" Miyuki ranted as soon as Shizuma was in earshot.

"I went to see Sakura," Shizuma stated calmly. "I was going to ask her if she remembered me, but I chickened out."

"What? Why?" Miyuki asked.

"I don't know," Shizuma replied honestly. "She looked so at peace, if I told her who I really was then that peace might be broken. We haven't seen each other in so long and there are so many questions I want to ask her but I don't know if she'll answer them."

"Like...?" Miyuki prompted.

"I don't know," Shizuma exclaimed. "Things like why she suddenly just disappeared from my life without a word, why is she living with Aoi-san instead of her own sister etc, etc, etc."

"Well how do you know she won't answer them?" Miyuki asked, attempting to calm her friend. "You won't know that until you ask her, and you won't be able to ask her until you tell her who you are."

"You're right," Shizuma sighed in resignation. "I won't know anything until I tell her. I guess that's a conversation I'll have to save for when she returns though."

"Good," Miyuki said, satisfied with her friend's acceptance, "and in the meantime," she grabbed Shizuma's wrist and began to drag her to the school, "you are going to come with me and do all that paperwork you've been doing you best to avoid."

"But Miyuki..." Shizuma whined at the thought of more paperwork.

"No buts," Miyuki said and that was the end of that. As Miyuki dragged Shizuma to the dreaded paperwork, Shizuma thought about Sakura, and what she would say to the girl when she returned to the school.

* * *

**A/N: hey guys! so for those of you who have not figured it out, i switched between POVs in this chapter a little bit, hope that didn't confuse you guys too much. Next up: Sakura goes home to Sachiko and her friends...what will happen? R + R if you want to find out!**


	6. Chapter 5: Old School, New Problems

**Disclaimer: i do not own, nor claim to own, anything strawberry panic or marimite**

**Chapter Five: Old School, New Problems**

Sakura walked out of the airport, pulling her suitcase along behind her and hailed a taxi. After giving the driver the proper address, she leaned back against the seat and took a quick nap, having been emotionally drained from the day before with Miyuki's letter, the photo album, Nagisa and, most importantly, Shizuma.

When she arrived at the apartment complex she shared with Mizuki before the accident, Sakura asked the driver to wait for her for a minute. After dumping her suitcase in the apartment she still stayed in, when she was in town anyway, she ran back out to the taxi and gave him another address. Within ten minutes they arrived, Sakura paid the driver and stood in front of the entrance gates to her old school, Lillian Girls Academy.

With a sigh, Sakura entered the grounds and, as a force of habit, stopped and prayed in front of the statue of Maria-Sama. After that, she proceeded to the Rose Mansion, noting that classes would not be let out and thus the Yamayurikai would not meet for another hour. Sakura opened the door, entered, ascended the staircase and went into the room where the daily meetings of the Lillian Student Council took place before and after school. Smiling at some of the memories of the room, Sakura rolled up her sleeves, grabbed a broom and began to clean, something she, for some reason, enjoyed doing and did quite often when she was a student and her best friend the petit soeur of Rosa Chinensis En Bouton.

* * *

Yumi stood at the doors with Yoshino and Shimako; they were waiting for their soeurs to show up. For Yoshino, it was her grande soeur Rei, for Shimako, it was her petite soeur Noriko and for Yumi it was her grande soeur Sachiko and her petite soeur Touko. They had only been waiting for about five minutes when three people they knew very well came walking up to them.

"Onee-sama!" Shimako exclaimed, being the first to see the trio approach.

"Yo!" Sei, the former Rosa Gigantea said, putting her hand up in the air in greeting.

"Long time, no see," Eriko, the former Rosa Foetida added, hugging Yoshino.

"How's Sachiko?" Youko, the former Rosa Chinensis asked, getting right to the point.

"I am fine, thank you onee-sama," the six girls turned around to see Sachiko, Rei, Noriko and Touko walking up to them.

"Onee-sama," Yumi said, smiling at Sachiko. Sachiko's grandmother had passed away about a week ago and Sachiko had not come to school until today, even though she still looked a little worn.

"Sorry we're late," Rei said, giving Eriko, her own onee-sama, a welcoming hug.

"What are the three of you doing here anyway?" Noriko asked, coming to stand beside Shimako as Touko went to stand by Yumi.

"Well, I was in the neighbourhood and decided to pay you guys a visit," Eriko said.

"And I heard that something interesting might happen today," Sei said, putting her arm around Shimako and giving the group her signature Cheshire cat grin.

"Care to elaborate?" Touko asked.

"Well, I'm sure if we go to the Rose Mansion for tea, we'll probably find out," Youko said, indicating that neither she nor Eriko knew what Sei was talking about.

The group agreed, somewhat apprehensively, and headed towards the Rose Mansion. When they got there, they realized that the door to the meeting room was slightly ajar. Giving each other confused looks, the group entered the room, Sachiko and Yumi in the front, and stood in frozen shock at the sight in front of them.

The room was spotless, cleaner than it has ever been, a white table cloth covered the table and a vase of fresh roses, red, white and yellow, were in the center. The window was open, letting in a gentle breeze that made the curtains flutter and there was a pot of tea simmering on the stove. However, none of this was what shocked the girls into silence; it was the person standing with their back to them that had caught everyone's attention.

The girl was tall, slender with black hair and wore a black dress that came to her knees with puffed sleeves and white lace accents. At the sound of the door opening, the girl turned around to reveal deep blue eyes that were full of memories, regret and pain. Giving the group a half-hearted smile, she faced the group full on.

"I'm back," she said.

"SAKURA!"

No sooner had Sakura said that she was back, she found herself lying on the floor on her back with Yumi clinging to her in a death-grip.

"Yumi," Sakura said, "I can't breathe."

"Sorry," Yumi exclaimed, leaping off her friend and helping pull Sakura to her feet. "It's just that..."

"I know," Sakura said, interrupting, as she brushed herself off. "I missed you too, all of you." She said, looking behind Yumi to see the rest of her old friends still staring at her in open shock. Suddenly, Yoshino and Shimako were squealing and had thrown themselves at Sakura much like Yumi had done, almost knocking Sakura flat on her back again, and Youko, Sei and even Eriko all started smiling and coming over to hug Sakura as well. Only Noriko, Touko and Sachiko held back, away from all the commotion.

"Ano, onee-sama?" Sakura asked, diverting everyone's attention from her to her older sister who had not said a word, nor even cracked a smile at seeing Sakura. Sachiko didn't answer Sakura, instead she simply walked up to her and the pair of them stared at each other, blue eyes stared into blue eyes and neither of them spoke, until Sachiko glared so hard at Sakura that she flinched, right before...

SLAP!

Sakura staggered backwards and hit the table, sinking to the floor with the force of Sachiko's anger. As soon as she stood back up, the group saw a large red handprint across her left cheek. The room went into stunned silence as Sachiko glared at Sakura, and Sakura held her hand to her stinging cheek.

"Sorry," Sakura said, bowing her head and turning it away so her bangs covered her eyes and no one could see her cry. "I shouldn't have come, you're all much happier without me around. I'll go now." With that, Sakura ran from the room, tears, now visible, streaming from her eyes as she fled.

"What the hell was that?" Sei yelled, as soon as Sakura had left, rounding on Sachiko.

"I should be asking you the same thing," Sachiko said, turning her ice-cold glare on the former White Rose. "Why in the world is she here? Did you know about this? Is this what you meant when you said 'something interesting might happen'?"

"BAKA!" Yumi yelled, surprising everyone, even herself.

"Onee-sama..." Touko said, noting her onee-sama's eyes were beginning to fill with tears.

"Sakura wanted to see you," Yumi said, more calmly this time. "She came because she was worried about you and she missed you."

"Then you knew about this Yumi?" Sachiko asked, surprised and hurt that Yumi wouldn't tell her something as important as this.

"Not until class ended," Yumi admitted, looking down at the floor. "I turned my phone on to see if Yuuki texted me the grocery list yet and instead there was one from Sakura. All it said was 'I'm back.' I didn't know she meant that she was back here, at Lillian."

"But the question is: why **is** she back?" Shimako asked. "As I recall, Sakura left to go to a different school with some red-haired first-year she knew after the accident."

"That might be my fault," Youko admitted.

"Your fault?" Yoshino asked, "How?"

"I sent her a letter about a week ago, informing her of her grandmother's passing...and Sachiko's...condition."

"YOU WHAT?" Sachiko asked, now rounding on her onee-sama.

"Well **somebody **had to tell her," Youko said, irritated. "And since you were a disaster and Yumi had basically forgotten Sakura existed, I told her."

"So she came back, because she was worried about Sachiko-san?" Shimako asked.

"Yes," Youko said, glaring at her petite soeur. "Which brings us back to the question: why the hell did you hit her?" Youko asked, sounding more livid at every word. "She came back, despite everything she's been through here, because she was worried about you! What in the world possessed you to behave like that?"

"Because she's mad at me," the group turned to the door and saw Sakura leaning against the doorframe.

"Sakura, I thought you left," Yumi said.

"Isn't that right Sachiko-sama?" Sakura asked, watching Sachiko flinch slightly at the honorific. "You're mad at me. You're mad at me because I fell out a window and almost killed myself. You're mad at me because I refused to return to living with you and mother after the accident that killed Mizuki. You're mad at me for running away with Nagisa to Astraea Hill and boarding school at Miator. You acted so kindly and sad when you caught me at the airport the day I left, but that was all it was wasn't it? Just all an act, you pretended that you loved me and that you were going to miss me, but in truth you hated me and never wanted to see me again."

The Yamayurikai stood still, shocked at the words coming out of Sakura's mouth and Sachiko flinched at the harshness in her voice that she had never heard coming from Sakura in her entire life.

"It appears that I am right," Sakura said, taking Sachiko's silence as confirmation of her suspicions. "In that case, I will take the next flight to Astraea Hill and do as you wish and never show my face in front of you ever again." Sakura turned to walk through the door and stopped. "You better take this back," she said, tossing the photo album to land on the floor at Sachiko's feet. "From what I heard while standing in the hall, you never wanted this sent to me, it was all Youko's doing. Feel free to rip up those pictures, they only contain you and me anyway so what's the point of keeping them? Better yet," Sakura said, her eyes filling with pain and tears and her voice getting higher and higher. "Why don't you just burn the whole thing, pretend like I never existed, that I was never part of your life, that you always were and always will be an only child. That would just make everything easier for you wouldn't it? To act like..."

"BAKA!" Sachiko yelled, effectively cutting Sakura off. "BAKA!" She repeated, tears beginning to fill her own eyes. "How can you say that?" She asked, turning to her sister. "After everything that's happened, how can you think I don't care about you anymore? How can you think I don't want you back in my life?"

"It's the truth though, isn't it?" Sakura asked, avoiding Sachiko's eyes.

"It's not!" Sachiko exclaimed, tears running down her face now. "It's not true! Yes, I am mad at you, for all the reasons you already stated, but that doesn't mean I never want to see you again!"

"She's right Sakura," Sei said, gently. "When the hospital called the school, and the headmistress called us, to inform us that there was a car accident, and you were in the victim's car, Sachiko lost her mind."

"Shut up Sei," Sachiko said, then grabbed Sakura's wrist and dragged her into an adjacent room and closed the door behind them.

"Is that true?" Sakura asked softly, her back to her elder sister.

"Is what true?" Sachiko countered, answering the question with a question.

"What Sei said," Sakura clarified. "Is it true?"

"Yes, it is," Sachiko sighed, ready to throttle Sei for revealing such a thing. "When I heard about the accident, I very nearly lost it."

_*Flashback*_

_Sachiko was sitting in class, trying to concentrate on what her teacher was saying, but failing miserably. Today was the one-week anniversary of the day that Sakura freed herself from her grandfather's attempts to use her Draconian powers for evil purposes. It was also the one-week anniversary of the death of Sakura's childhood friend, and fellow Draconian, Lance. Sakura had left with her guardian Mizuki earlier that day to visit Lance's grave and Sachiko had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that wouldn't be dispelled until Yumi told her that Sakura was back, such was Sachiko's worry about her younger sister. Just then, the intercom buzzed and jolted Sachiko out of her thoughts._

"_Would the Rosas, En Boutons, and their Soeurs, of the Yamayurikai please report to the headmistress's office immediately? I repeat, would the Rosas, En Boutons, and their Soeurs, of the Yamayurikai please report to the headmistress's office immediately?"_

_*Wonder what that's all about?* Sachiko asked herself, as she excused herself from class and made her way down to the headmistress's office. Once there, she saw that Sei, Eriko, Youko and Rei were already there. A few minutes later, Yumi showed up, followed closely by Shimako and Yoshino._

"_Ah, you're here," the headmistress said, opening the door. "Good, please come in."_

"_What's going on?" Yoshino asked, as the group of girls entered the office and stood in front of the desk._

"_I'm afraid I have some very bad news, for our school, and for you," the headmistress said, taking a seat at her desk._

"_Which is...?" Sei asked._

"_About ten minutes ago, we received a call from the General Hospital," the headmistress said, sighing. "They called to inform us that, earlier this morning, there was a car accident with two victims. One of the victims was a student from our school and the other was her guardian. Both have been admitted to the ICU and are undergoing extensive surgery and medical care. However, their condition is quite serious and no one knows whether either of them will live or die."_

"_Why are you informing us of this?" Rei asked, confused._

"_Shouldn't you be informing the friends and family of this student?" Eriko asked._

"_That is precisely what I am doing, Rosa Foetida," the headmistress said._

"_What do you mean?" Youko asked, fearing the worst._

"_The victims of the accident who are in the ICU right now are a journalist from the Tokyo Times newspaper named Mizuki Kusumoto, and her ward Sakura Kusumoto."_

_*End Flashback*_

"After that we all were really quiet," Sachiko told Sakura, looking out the window. "Then everyone registered what we had been told. Sei swore and punched the wall; Yoshino started screaming that it couldn't be true as Rei tried to calm her down while holding in her own emotions; Yumi, Shimako and onee-sama had tears running down their faces and Eriko just looked mortified. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, I was so scared. I was terrified that you were going to die, just like Lance had, fading away until there was not a trace left of you, I..." Sachiko stopped talking as she felt arms encircle her waist and the person behind her hug her tightly.

"Gomenasai," Sakura said, hugging Sachiko close and burying her face into her back. "Gomenasai, onee-sama," she said, tears running down her face and soaking into Sachiko's blouse. "I said such awful things. I didn't mean...I just...I'm so sorry!" Sakura started crying full-out now, letting the tears fall as she vented all her anger, hurt and pain at losing Lance, losing Mizuki and thinking that she had lost Sachiko as well.

"Sakura..." Sachiko said, turning around in Sakura's embrace and looking down at her younger sister, clinging to her like the world was ending. "Ssh, ssh, it's okay," she said, hugging Sakura to her and stroking her head as she let her sister cry, tears flowing from her own eyes. "It's okay," she repeated. "I said, and thought, some pretty awful things too, and I hit you, something I should never have done, not matter how mad I was at you. Forgive me?" She asked, looking down with tear-filled eyes as Sakura lifted her own tear-stained face to Sachiko's.

"Only if you forgive me," Sakura said quietly.

"Deal," Sachiko said, smiling as she hugged Sakura close to her again.

"I missed you, onee-sama," Sakura said, as she continued to grip Sachiko with all her might.

"I missed you too, Sakura," Sachiko said, not loosening her grip on Sakura for even a moment.

The two of them stayed like that, two sisters, identical in every way except for height and personality, holding each other like the world was ending and conveying all their love for each other in that one single moment in time where it was just the two of them.

* * *

**A/N: hey guys. yea had a little writers block with this one. decided that we should look in on the Yamayurikai for a bit, sorry for any OOCness. next chapter: sakura chills with her friends and heads back to Miator. what will happen? R +R to find out!**


	7. Chapter 6: Old Friends, New Plans

**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor claim to own, anything strawberry panic or marimite. it all belongs to the respective creators**

**Chapter Six: Old Friends, New Plans**

"What on earth do they think they're doing?" Yoshino asked impatiently as she paced around the room.

"Calm down Yoshino," Rei admonished, "Sachiko and Sakura have a lot of things that need working out between them. It's only natural that it would take some time."

"Ano, I hate to be rude," Noriko said, "but who exactly was that person? You all seem to know her quite well."

"That's right," Yoshino said, hitting her face with her palm. "Neither you, nor Touko, were here last year."

"Allow me to explain," Sei said. "That person's name is Sakura and she used to come to school here last year. She spent most of her elementary years growing up with Yumi, who lived next door to the apartment complex Sakura shared with her elder sister Mizuki. After Sachiko asked Yumi to become her soeur, we, that is, the Yamayurikai, found out that Sakura was Sachiko's biological younger sister."

"Some things happened and Sakura ran into one of her old friends from when she was living with Sachiko," Rei continued. "Soon afterwards, he passed away. One the one-week anniversary of his death, Sakura and Mizuki were driving to visit his grave. They were in a car accident and rushed to the hospital. Mizuki died and Sakura was in a coma for two months."

"When she woke up," Youko took over, "she was informed of Mizuki's passing and became depressed, staring out the window constantly. One day, when the daughter of a friend of Mizuki's came to visit her, she surprised Sakura so much that she almost fell out the window of the sill she had been sitting on."

"The girl who surprised her caught her wrist" Yumi added, "and managed to get both of them back in the room unharmed. After that, Sakura opted to stay with that girl and her family for a bit before she returned to her biological family because she still had issues with them and what they had done to her in the past."

"And Sachiko got mad at me because of that," the group whirled around and saw Sakura and Sachiko, both looking drained, standing in the doorway. Sachiko had an arm around Sakura's shoulders and Sakura was leaning into the embrace, obviously exhausted.

"Sakura," Yumi exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sakura said as she let Sachiko seat her between herself and Yumi as everyone began to take seats around the large table. "Just drained, we had a long and emotional discussion." She explained, indicating Sachiko and herself.

"Did you really work everything out?" Yoshino asked. "I only ask because I would rather not see Sachiko-sama hit you again."

"Don't worry about it," Sakura said, waving her hand dismissively. "Sachiko feels bad enough about that, it won't happen again."

"Good, I have enough to deal with, with school and finding a soeur and all, I don't need more drama," Yoshino replied.

"That reminds me," Sakura said, taking in Noriko and Touko fully now. "Shimako, Yumi, are you going to introduce me to your soeurs or what?"

"Ah! I completely forgot!" Yumi exclaimed, looking shocked and Sakura began to giggle.

"Well, that is Noriko, she is my soeur," Shimako stated, indicating Noriko, who had stood up to take the tea Sakura had previously prepared off the stove and had begun pouring it for everyone.

"Nice to meet you," Sakura said, smiling at Noriko who, unknowingly, turned pink at the brilliance of it.

"This," Yumi said, indicating Touko who was sitting on her other side, "is Touko, she's my soeur."

"Eh? Touko as in, our cousin Touko?" Sakura asked, turning with surprise to Sachiko who nodded in affirmation. "Well, something tells me that there is a story behind this one."

"And that can wait until you tell us what you have been up to," Yoshino said, getting a gleam in her eye that told Sakura it was gossip time.

"Yea," Yumi agreed. "We haven't seen you in so long and you haven't kept in touch very often."

"Don't blame me," Sakura said, putting her hands in the air in mock defence. "Blame Nagisa for never giving me a moment to myself; as soon as I walked in her front door it was all 'this is this room, this is that room, oh and my parents are going overseas for work so we're going to boarding school in two days so we need to go shopping for this and that' it was non-stop craziness, until we got to Miator."

"Miator, is that your new school?" Yumi asked.

"Hai, this, unfortunately, is the school uniform," Sakura said, indicating the black dress she was wearing. "Personally, I would prefer Lulim's uniform, even though it is pink, and don't even get me started on what those Spicans wear."

"Lulim? Spicans?" Shimako asked.

"Oh, my mistake," Sakura said. "Miator isn't the only all-female boarding school on Astraea Hill. There are two others, Lulim and Spica. All three schools share the same dorms, the Strawberry Dorms, as Nagisa's roommate Tamao, told us. There are three sections, one for Miator, one for Lulim and one for Spica. We all share common areas, lounges, dining hall and cafeteria though. Also, each school has their own Student Council and the three get together to plan events for the dorms. Each Student Council has a president and two assistants, think along the lines of the Rosas, except they're from different schools. There is no soeur system, so new students are looked after by their roommates, like Nagisa, and the Student Council members. Also, there is an Etoile."

"Etoile?" Noriko asked. "What's that?"

"The Etoile is a representative of all three schools, she is the most loved and the most admired of the three schools. Every year there is the Etoile Election, where each school submits their candidates and the schools vote on who they want to represent them the next year. Usually it is a pair, but this year there is only one of the two, as her partner had a heart disease and passed away last year."

"That's so sad," Yoshino said, holding her hand to over her heart, having had heart problems in the past, but underwent surgery to fix the problem.

"Yea, and you'll never guess who this year's Etoile is," Sakura said, turning to both Sachiko and Touko.

"Who?" Touko asked, curious despite herself.

"A Miator student," Sakura said. "With long silver hair, amber eyes and goes by the name Shizuma Hanazono." At this, Sachiko, who had been drinking her tea at the time of Sakura's announcement, started choking.

"Onee-sama!" Yumi exclaimed, as Sakura handed Sachiko a napkin calmly. "Are you okay?" She asked, once Sachiko stopped coughing.

"I'm fine," Sachiko said, then turned to Sakura. "But did I hear you correctly? You said that Shizuma is the Etoile from Miator, the school that you are currently attending?"

"Yes," Sakura replied, calmly, but enjoying the effect her words had on her older sister.

"Does she know who you are?" Sachiko asked, getting right to her point of worry.

"I don't think so," Sakura said, shaking her head. "I didn't even realize it was her until I saw this," here Sakura reached into her pocket and pulled out the picture she had taken from the photo album which, thanks to Yumi, was now sitting peacefully on one of the counters.

"I remember that!" Touko said, getting up and looking over Sachiko's shoulder at the picture. "That was at your seventh birthday, before you were disowned. Sachiko was getting a picture taken with you and as soon as it was done, Shizuma jumped you and she and Sachiko had a verbal fencing match with each other."

"Of course they did, why do you think Sachiko's so good at dealing with Sei-san?" Sakura asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sei asked, feigning indignance.

"It means that, thanks to Shizuma being such a playgirl, like you, and continually teasing me to get a rile out of Sachiko, like you do with Yumi, Sachiko has gotten good at dealing with people like you." Sakura explained, giving Sei a sideways grin.

"EH?!" Yumi asked. "You mean there's another person in the world who acts like Sei-sama?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Sachiko said, sighing. "In some cases, like Sakura for instance, Shizuma is worse than Sei."

"Worse than Sei?" Eriko asked, interested.

"How is that possible?" Yoshino asked, shocked that such a thing was possible.

"Don't know, don't care," Sachiko stated. "What I do care about is the fact that you are at the same school as her Sakura. Are you sure she doesn't know who you are? I don't want her to go back to her old ways and influencing you negatively."

"Eh? What, pray tell, do you mean by that, _onee-sama_?" Sakura asked, giving Sachiko a look out of the corner of her eye that had Sachiko flushing red with embarrassment.

"I-I-I mean...well..." Sachiko stammered, something neither Yumi, nor anybody else in the room, had seen happen before.

"I'm just teasing you," Sakura said, taking a sip of her tea. "I know what you mean, and I am quite sure she doesn't know who I am, but do you honestly think that Shizuma is still like that?"

"Yes, I do," Sachiko answered.

"You may be right," Sakura said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Shimako asked.

"Well, on the first day that Nagisa and I arrived at Astraea, I lost track of Nagisa because she got herself lost. I followed the path I thought she had taken and wound up falling into the lake."

"You fell into a lake?" Noriko asked.

"Don't sound so surprised," Sakura said. "I tripped while walking around the edge of it; it was a lot deeper than one would originally think. Anyway, it was really cold and I inhaled what seemed like half of it before I got myself back onto the shore. Before I could continue my search for Nagisa, I passed out."

"You passed out?" Youko asked.

"Don't ask," Sakura said. "Long explanation that would highly confuse specific company," everyone knew then that it had something to do with Sakura being a Draconian. "When I was unconscious, I had a dream from Nagisa's point of view. She had gotten lost and found a tree in the middle of a clearing and went to stand by it. Only after she had relaxed did she realize that someone else was there. It was a girl in a black dress with silver hair and amber eyes. Nagisa started babbling and the key chain that was on her bag fell off. The silver-haired girl picked it up and handed it to her and when Nagisa looked at her, she couldn't move. The silver-haired girl leaned in towards Nagisa..."

"And?" Yoshino asked when Sakura stopped talking.

"And what?" Sakura replied, feigning ignorance.

"What happened after that?" Yoshino clarified. "Did she kiss her?"

"Yoshino!" Rei admonished.

"I don't know," Sakura replied. "I woke up after that, but I don't think she did."

"What makes you say that?" Eriko asked.

"Because, at dinner that night, we met that girl," Sakura said. "Nagisa had mistaken another girl for the Etoile and started blathering. When she was finished, the girl with the silver hair from my dream came up behind her, without my knowing. The two of them exchanged a few words and the silver-haired girl was advancing on Nagisa. Nagisa said something along the lines of 'you can't do this' to which the other girl responded by saying 'who says I can't?'"

"I get the feeling this doesn't end well," Touko said.

"For Nagisa, it does, for the silver-haired girl, it didn't." Sakura said.

"What did you do?" Sachiko asked, getting the feeling Sakura had done something.

"What you would do, though probably a lot less lady-like," Sakura explained. "I got between the two of them and the silver-haired girl turned her attention to me instead of Nagisa, who ran and hid behind her roommate. The silver-haired girl grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close to her."

"Don't tell me..." Sei said.

"She kissed you didn't she?" Yoshino asked, barely able to contain herself.

"She tried to," Sakura said. "I was faster than her though."

"Wait, you mean **you** kissed **her**?" Touko asked, not believing her cousin was capable of such a thing.

"WHAT?!" Sachiko gasped, shocked and really, really mad.

"Calm down onee-sama," Sakura said, "and no, I did **not** kiss her. When I said I was faster than her, I meant that I had her wrist pinned behind her back before she could do anything."

"Oh," Sachiko said, sighing with relief. "So what happened after that?"

"I told her that if she tried anything like that again, with me or Nagisa, she would regret it." Sakura explained. "Then I left the dining hall and went to my room to think, because I recognized her, not from my dream, but from somewhere else. It bugged me all week, then I got Youko's letter, figured everything out and came here as soon as I could."

"Wow," Yumi said. "You've had a lot more going on than we have."

"I know," Sakura said, "but unfortunately I don't have enough time to hang around."

"What?" Yumi asked, sad that Sakura was leaving so soon.

"Why?" Youko asked.

"Because," Sakura said. "After reading your letter I panicked over Sachiko a little bit, thinking I would be here for weeks. After coming here though, well, it seems everything is just fine."

"Everything may be fine," Youko said.

"But you should stay a little longer!" Yumi interjected. "We miss you and once you go back, you may not be able to visit for a really long time!"

"That's true," Shimako said. "I read over the pamphlet Sakura brought to school once she decided to switch schools at the end of the year last year and Astraea Hill schools have different holidays than us as I recall."

"I don't have a problem with Sakura hanging out for a while," Touko said, Noriko nodding her head in agreement. "After all, I haven't seen her since I was seven. If she stayed a couple weeks, it would be the perfect time for us to catch up."

"Hey! Don't go deciding things like that on your own!" Sachiko said, not wanting Sakura to leave just yet but also not wanting her to miss too much school because she decided to come down and check up on Sachiko.

"I don't have a problem with it either," Rei said, smiling at Sakura.

"Rei!" Sachiko exclaimed. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Sachiko," Rei said, "you have never acted like this before, not even when Sakura first showed up at the mansion. Today, you have gone from pure hatred, to sisterly love, to shock, to concern, to argumentative all in," she checked her watch, "an hour and a half. If that isn't proof that you need Sakura right now, to help you get over everything that's happened since she left, then nothing is."

"It's settled then," Yoshino decided. "Sakura, you are now going to stay here for two weeks and no less!"

"But..." Sakura and Sachiko said at the same time.

"No buts," Yoshino said, wagging a finger at the pair of them. "Sakura's staying and that's final!"

"Fine," Sakura and Sachiko sighed in resignation.

"Good," Yoshino said.

"Now that that's settled," Sachiko said, sitting down. "May we _please_ start this meeting?" Taking their cue, the former Rosas and Sakura rose from their seats and left the room, heading out of the Rose Mansion and into the bright afternoon sunshine.

* * *

"Well that went better than I expected it to," Sakura said, stretching as she walked with the former Rosas towards the entrance of the school grounds. "Thank you, Youko, for sending me that letter to let me know what was going on."

"You're welcome," Youko said. "**Someone** had to tell you, and since neither Yumi nor Sachiko thought to, it might as well have been me."

"I still don't understand why Sachiko hit you though," Sei said.

"It's complicated," Sakura said.

"Everything about you is complicated," Eriko pointed out.

"Exactly," Sakura said, giving the three older girls a sideways smile as she said her farewells and headed back towards the taxi that was waiting to take her back to her apartment that she was staying at.

* * *

**A/N: hey peoples. chapter six now complete! YAY! next chapter: sakura goes back to Miator and drama with Shizuma ensues...what will happen? R+R to find out!**


	8. Chapter 7: Back to Miator

**Chapter Seven: Back to Miator**

After two weeks of being dragged around by Yumi and Sei, who Sakura now knew attended Lillian University, and spending some quality time with Sachiko and the rest of the Yamayurikai, it was time to go back to Miator. Due to it being a school day, only Sachiko, Yumi and Sei showed up at the airport to see Sakura off. After many hugs, good-byes and the promise to keep in touch and visit again, Sakura once again got on a plane to Miator, hardly aware of what was in store for her when she arrived.

Upon arrival at the Strawberry Dorms, Sakura managed to get to her room without being noticed by anybody, which wasn't much of a miracle as it was dinnertime. Having already eaten at the airport, Sakura entered her room, immediately closed the door, sat down at her desk and attacked the mountain of homework that Nagisa, or Miyuki, one of the two, had been kind enough to drop off for her while she was away.

* * *

Nagisa was fidgeting, more than usual, as she ate dinner with Tamao and some of their other friends. Sakura was supposed to have gotten back to Miator at least an hour ago and she had yet to show up.

"Calm down Nagisa-chan," Tamao said, trying to reassure her friend. "I'm sure Sakura-san will be back soon."

"You're right," Nagisa said, sounding sheepish. "I should just calm down, onee-sama can take care of herself." Despite her words, Nagisa continued to worry throughout dinner and as she and Tamao finished and headed up to their room to start on their homework, she kept looking around for any sign of Sakura. Just as they were passing the door to Sakura's room, Nagisa stopped.

"What is it now Nagisa-chan?" Tamao asked, stopping when she realized that Nagisa was no longer walking with her.

"There's a light coming out from under onee-sama's door," Nagisa said. "I wonder if Miyuki left the light on when she dropped off onee-sama's homework for her." Nagisa slowly opened the door and peeked inside, only to pull back and shake her head in exasperation.

"What is it?" Tamao asked, coming up to stand by Nagisa.

"Look for yourself," Nagisa said, moving away from the crack so Tamao could see.

"Is that Sakura-san?" Tamao asked, looking from the room and back to Nagisa.

"Yea," Nagisa said, looking through the crack in the door with Tamao again. "It looks like she's been there for a while. Why didn't she tell me she was here, I don't understand it at all."

* * *

Shizuma and Miyuki were heading upstairs to start on their own homework, not that Shizuma would be able to concentrate; she had been fretting over the absence of Sakura during dinner when she should have arrived back at the dorms by then. As the pair of them walked down the hallway, they saw Nagisa and Tamao peering through a crack in the door to Sakura's room.

"What are you doing?" Shizuma asked the pair who jumped and turned around at her voice. Nagisa quickly closed the door to Sakura's room and stood up to face the two older girls.

"We were checking on onee-sama, Etoile-sama," Nagisa explained. "We were worried because she didn't come to dinner and she should have gotten back by then."

"We were on our way to our room when we noticed the light under her door," Tamao continued. "We thought someone might have left the light on by accident so we opened the door to turn it off."

"And what happened?" Miyuki asked, curious as to why the two girls were looking through the crack in the door instead of turning off the light.

"They saw me," the four girls jumped and turned around to see Sakura wearing jeans and a blue, tight-fitting tank-top leaning on the doorframe. Her black hair hung down to her waist and she had a white ribbon tied around her forehead to keep it out of her face, the whole thing had Shizuma thinking about how much Sakura had grown, and how beautiful she had become, since she last saw her.

* * *

"You really need to work on being stealthy, Nagisa," Sakura said, smiling in amusement as she took in the four girls standing in front of her with shocked expressions on their faces, obviously they hadn't heard her open the door. "I could hear you and Tamao loud and clear as you spied on me. Why were you spying on me anyway?"

"Well...uh..." Nagisa said, sweat-dropping and rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "We sort of got worried because you hadn't shown up at dinner when you should have been back an hour before. When we passed by your room, we saw the light and thought someone left the light on. When we saw you in there, we were just sort of surprised that you would go straight to your room without telling us you were back."

"Why did you go straight to your room anyway?" Shizuma asked, also curious as to the other girl's reasoning.

"Are you kidding?" Sakura asked, looking at Shizuma and Miyuki with wide eyes, and noticing a blush across Shizuma's face, but choosing to ignore it. "Have you _seen_ the mountain of homework Miyuki left on my desk?"

"Well, I can give you a hand with it if you want," Shizuma offered, her blush turning deeper when Sakura looked at her.

"Thanks," Sakura said, smiling. "But I'll be able to manage. However, since I have you here, I do need to talk to you for a minute Etoile-sama. Is that alright?"

"Sure," Shizuma said, ignoring the look Miyuki gave her. "I actually had something I wanted to discuss with you as well."

Sakura nodded and moved to the side so Shizuma could enter her room. "See you tomorrow Nagisa-chan, Tamao-chan, Miyuki-san," she said, bowing to the bewildered girls before following Shizuma into her room.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Shizuma asked as Sakura entered the room and closed the door behind her.

"I could ask you the same question," Sakura said, motioning for Shizuma to take a seat on the empty bed across from Sakura's own.

"Well...I...umm...that is..." Shizuma started stumbling over her words for no apparent reason and it made Sakura sigh in exasperation, before deciding to breech the subject herself.

"I know who you are," both girls said simultaneously, Shizuma sounding a bit rushed and Sakura sounding slightly defeated, each gaining a look of shock and surprise from the other.

"How long did you know?" Sakura asked, getting over her initial shock.

"Since before you left," Shizuma answered. "I had a hunch of who you were that night in the dining hall, that's why I left Nagisa-san alone and went after you instead. You just looked so similar to the friend that I used to tease like that non-stop just to get a reaction from her elder sister. Then you told me that Sachiko was your older sister and I figured it out from there. You?"

"Same," Sakura answered. "I felt a strong connection to you the first time I saw you face to face and couldn't figure out why, until I got Youko's letter. I ran out of the dining hall and read it in one of the lounges, I didn't realize I had been crying until Chikaru-chan came up from behind me and hugged me. After I had calmed down, I let Chikaru read the letter as I flipped through the photo album Youko had sent me with the letter. Chikaru asked about a photo with me and Sachiko in it and I explained it to her. I sort of spaced out for a minute after that and only was brought back to reality when Chikaru asked me about another picture. This one had me, Sachiko and another girl with silver hair in it. Wondering who the third girl was, I read the caption on the back of the photo and found out that the girl's name was Shizuma-chan. It took me a minute to place the name, but when I did, I realized it was you in the picture and figured out why I felt that connection to you."

"Why didn't you say anything then?" Shizuma asked, wondering why Sakura, who had figured it out before Shizuma had, wouldn't say anything.

"Because, I wasn't sure if you remembered me or not," Sakura said, looking at the floor. "It's been so long since last we saw each other. If you didn't remember me it would have turned awkward, if you did remember me, well, I wasn't up for answering all of your questions right away. I'm still dealing with my past myself and don't want to dump it on more people than I already have."

"I see," Shizuma said, unable to think of anything else. "If you don't mind my asking, why did you disappear like that on me?"

"Didn't Sachiko tell you?" Sakura asked, slightly surprised. "I was disowned after a hearing the day after the last time I saw you."

"YOU WERE WHAT?!" Shizuma asked, unable to believe what she had just heard.

"I'll take that as a 'no' then," Sakura said, smiling amusedly at Shizuma's shocked expression.

"Well that explains everything then," Shizuma mused to herself.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, curious as to what the older girl was talking about.

"Well, when I asked Sachiko about where you were, she got all mad and snapped at me," Shizuma explained. "After that, I dropped the subject and never mentioned it again. Sachiko had become incredibly moody and even more withdrawn and cold than ever before, but sometimes that hard mask of hers cracked."

"Meaning...?" Sakura asked, wondering where this conversation was headed.

"Meaning I would come over and go to her room, expecting to be snubbed or snapped at, only to have her open the door, drag me inside and collapse into my arms in tears," Shizuma explained. "Now I understand what happened to her. She lost one of the most important people in her life, you."

"Huh," Sakura said, crossing her arms and thinking. "Are you sure that's what happened? Not that I doubt you or anything, but when I met up with Sachiko at school last year, without seeing her in many years, I didn't think she remembered me, let alone cared for me that much. Boy was I proven wrong."

"What do you mean?" Now it was Shizuma's turn to be curious.

"Let's just say there was an incident, a couple of them actually, that brought us back together as sisters. By the way," Sakura said, casting a slight smirk in Shizuma's direction, "I told her that you were the Etoile here."

"And?" Shizuma asked, slightly worried.

"And I wish I had a camera, or Tsutako-san, there to take a picture of her reaction," Sakura said, smiling at the memory.

"Why is that," Shizuma asked, a number of different ideas going through her head about what Sachiko's reaction might have been.

"She started choking on her tea," Sakura said, trying not to laugh at Sachiko's misfortune. "When she looked up at me, the look on her face was just priceless."

"I can imagine," Shizuma said, also trying to stifle her own laughter as she did indeed imagine the look on her old friend's face.

"She didn't like the idea of me being anywhere near you," Sakura said, growing solemn and looking away from Shizuma. "She wanted to make sure that you never figured out who I was for fear that you might...well...you know..." Sakura trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

"Become a bad influence on you again?" Shizuma asked, finishing Sakura's sentence for her while Sakura merely nodded.

"Something like that," Sakura said. "So," she said, turning back to face Shizuma, "now what?"

"Well for now," Shizuma said, crossing the room to sit beside Sakura who looked at her a little warily. "I want to do something that I haven't been able to do for ten or eleven years."

"Which would be...?" Sakura asked, not sure whether she should be worried or not.

"This," Shizuma said, pulling Sakura's face right up to hers and kissing her on the cheek before pulling her in for a tight hug.

"Sh-Shizuma!" Sakura exclaimed, caught off guard by her old friend's actions.

"Shush," Shizuma mumbled as she buried her face in her friend's hair, inhaling the scent of cherry trees and strawberries that was purely Sakura that she had missed for so long. "I missed you, Sakura," she said, hugging Sakura tighter.

"I missed you too Shizuma," Sakura said, relaxing in Shizuma's arms and returning the hug in full force. They stayed like that for a while before Sakura pulled away and Shizuma, immediately missing her warmth, pouted at her.

"Why'd you move?" Shizuma whined, pouting as Sakura shook her head in exasperation at her.

"Because it's almost ten and I still have tons of work to do," Sakura said, indicating the pile of homework she had left to do. "Also, I have to prepare myself."

"Prepare yourself?" Shizuma asked as Sakura stood up and began to unpack the bags she had taken to Lillian with her. "For what?"

"For Sachiko's arrival," Sakura stated simply, putting the last of her clothes in her closet.

"Sachiko's coming here?" Shizuma asked, paling slightly.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she got on the next flight right after mine," Sakura said, putting her bag under her bed. "Now that she knows you're here, who knows what she'll do?"

"So she's not coming?" Shizuma asked, getting more confused as she watched Sakura straighten out her room.

"Honestly, I'm not sure if she will or not," Sakura replied, turning to face Shizuma. "However, if she does decide to pay me a surprise visit, I don't want to be caught unawares. Would you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at Shizuma who immediately shook her head.

"No way!" Shizuma said. "Sachiko can be really scary when she chooses to, especially when it comes to you."

"And you of all people would know that fact the best," Sakura said, smirking at Shizuma as the two made their way to Sakura's door.

"Yeup, and I would prefer _**not**_ to see Sachiko furious again," Shizuma said, returning Sakura's smirk as she left the room. "Good-night, Aoi-san," Shizuma said, nodding her head at Sakura before walking down the hall to her own room.

"Good-night...Shizuma-chan," Sakura whispered before closing the door with an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach and a nagging in the back of her mind that she dismissed and went to finish her homework, the feeling not going away until she slipped into the land of dreams around midnight.

* * *

**A/N: hey guys! sorry it took so long to update! i was getting grinded by readers of "A Rift In Time" for not updating for a while so i had to get over my writer's block and finish the next chapter for that first. not much to say about this chapter as it's kind of a filler but i promise that there will be a meet-up of the lillian gang soon. on that note however, i am having issues deciding what obstacle to throw Sakura's way in this story (besides the obvious Sachiko vs Shizuma war) so if you have any ideas post them in a review. Thanks! Don't forget to R+R!**


	9. Chapter 8: The Theatre Festival Part 1

**Disclaimer: I don't anything marimite or SP!**

**Chapter Eight: The Theatre Festival - Part 1: The Lead Up**

The next day Sakura discovered the reason behind the strange feeling she had had the night before. She had decided to sleep in, in order to catch up on the much-needed rest after staying up all night to finish her homework. However, her alarm clock had other ideas and went off at the usual time of six-thirty. Shutting off the alarm, Sakura rolled over and went back to bed, only to be rudely woken up again, this time by Nagisa and Tamao bursting into her room.

"Onee-sama! Wake up!" Nagisa exclaimed excitedly, whipping the covers off Sakura.

"Nng, Nagisa," Sakura complained, grabbing her covers back and turning to glare at the other girl. "You are incredibly loud for this early in the morning. What is it?"

"They picked the play for the Theatre Festival!" Nagisa exclaimed, barely able to contain her excitement.

"They picked the what for what?" Sakura asked, completely confused as to what Nagisa was talking about.

"She wasn't here for the announcement Nagisa-chan," Tamao explained when Nagisa looked at Sakura strangely.

"Oh! That's right! Sorry, I forgot you were gone," Nagisa said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"The theatre festival is a tradition of Astraea Hill," Tamao explained to the still-confused Sakura. "Every year the representatives of the schools, the student council, get together and choose a play for the residents of the Strawberry Dorms to perform. Each year the schools rotate which school has students acting and which school is in charge of all the backstage stuff."

"And which schools are acting this year?" Sakura asked, slightly worried.

"Well, Miator is in charge of all the backstage stuff; directing, set, props, that sort of thing," Nagisa explained.

"Which means that the actors are from Spica and Lulim this year, except for Etoile-sama," Tamao added.

"I see," Sakura said, happy that she wouldn't get roped into getting onstage. "So which play did they pick for us to do?"

"That's the exciting part," Nagisa exclaimed. "Plays were submitted and voted on by the residents until three were left for the student councils to decide upon. They picked _Carmen_, which was the play suggested by Tamao-chan and Rokujou-sama asked Tamao-chan to write the script for it."

"Really? That's fantastic!" Sakura said, smiling at Tamao. "Write an amazing script Suzumi-san."

"I will," Tamao said. "However, it will be difficult to write the script without knowing who is going to play which parts."

"I overheard the council from Spica saying that it would be more popular for Etoile-sama to play Carmen and to have Amane-san play Don Jose." Nagisa said.

"I heard that too," Tamao said, "however I think Etoile-sama would make a better Don Jose than Amane-sempai."

"Whatever," Sakura said, getting bored with the conversation. "As long as you write a good script while keeping the characters open to be played by anybody you should be fine. Then, after the actors are picked, you can edit and improve the script to fit better with that actor."

"That's a good idea," Tamao said.

"Glad I could help," Sakura said. "Now, if you two don't mind, I would like to get back to sleep so I can actually focus tomorrow."

"That reminds me," Nagisa said, smacking her forehead. "Rokujou-sama wanted you to come to the student council room as soon as you woke up."

"What? Nng...fine. It's not like I would be able to get back to sleep anyway." Sakura said, rolling her eyes and sighing in exasperation. "If you see her, tell her I'm on my way."

"Will do," Nagisa said as she and Tamao headed out the door to do whatever it was they did on a Sunday morning.

* * *

After a few more minutes of lying in bed, Sakura got up and took a shower. After she did that, she changed into her uniform, too lazy to try and throw anything else together, and headed down to the student council room on the ground floor. When she arrived, she heard the soft tones of a discussion going on inside so she knocked. After hearing a brief 'come in' she opened the door to find, not just the Miator council, but also the councils of both Spica and Lulim as well.

"Ah, Aoi-san," Miyuki said, looking up and seeing Sakura standing there somewhat awkwardly. "Please, take a seat."

Sakura did as she was told and sat at the far end of the table where all three student councils could see her. She saw Chikaru and gave the other fifth-year girl a small smile as she sat down. She noticed that the President of Spica, Shion, and her two assistants whom Sakura did not know, all seemed pretty annoyed about something. The Miator council looked somewhat on edge, Shizuma seeming pretty indifferent, and the Lulim council looked quite content and at ease.

"Umm," Sakura broke the silence that had permeated the room since she walked in. "If you don't mind my asking, why did you want to see me?"

"We were discussing roles for the upcoming Theatre Festival," Miyuki explained. "It was brought up by Shion-san that it would be popular for Amane Ohtori to star as Don Jose and Etoile Shizuma-sama to play the part of Carmen."

"And this has what to do with me?" Sakura asked, not sure where this was heading.

"According to Minamoto-san's sources," Shion said, grabbing Sakura's attention. "There are a large number of students who are upset about Miator being unable to submit actors in this year's play."

"Why is that?" Sakura said, getting a bad feeling about the whole.

"Because it means that they won't see their 'beloved Sakura Aoi-san' performing a lead role," Chikaru explained, smiling innocently at Sakura.

"WHAT?" Sakura exclaimed, nearly falling off her chair. "When did this happen?" Sakura asked, directing her question at Shizuma, who should have warned her the night before.

"What do you mean?" Shizuma asked, pretending to play dumb, even though she knew exactly what Sakura meant.

"I mean, when on earth did I suddenly have a fanclub?" Sakura stated, knowing full well that Shizuma was doing this to catch up on the years of teasing that she missed out on.

"A couple days after you arrived," Shizuma replied honestly.

"WHAT?" Sakura exclaimed, this time _actually_ falling off her chair.

"Yes, it seems you made quite an impression on the rest of the students after your display in the dining hall," Shion said with obvious disapproval.

"Anyway, when and where aside," Miyuki said, bringing everyone's attention back to her. "The fact of the matter is that this poses a problem to us. Since Shion-san is so worried about what is going to be popular among the students or not, she has offered for you to temporarily transfer to Spica until the end of the Theatre Festival. This way, the students get what they want and we don't have to bend the rules in order to give them what they want."

"What exactly is it that they want?" Sakura asked, not liking what was happening at all.

"They want you to participate in _Carmen_ as a lead of course!" Chikaru said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world.

"No way," Sakura deadpanned.

"What?" Shion asked, dumbfounded.

"I said 'no'," Sakura stated. "There is no way you are getting me on that stage. I will help out with the backstage stuff if I have to, but I refuse to get on stage."

"Oh? And why is that?" Shizuma asked. "As I recall, you were quite the little actress back in the day; always getting roles in school productions."

"I was six," Sakura stated, "and it wasn't my choice. I was forced to audition and wound up with the parts, so I played them, as was expected of me."

"Whatever you say," Shizuma said, obviously not believing Sakura. "You still haven't answered my question," she pointed out.

"I don't like exposing myself to people," Sakura said.

"Well, since we can't force you to get on stage," Miyuki said, "would you mind becoming the Assistant Director?"

"What will I have to do?" Sakura asked.

"Help oversee the set building, props and costumes and help the actors with blocking and line memorization if they need it," Miyuki informed.

"Very well, since there's no way I can get out of participating in some way, I might as well," Sakura said, resigning herself to participation.

"Good, you may leave now, thank you for your time," Miyuki said.

Sakura bowed and exited the room, leaving the council members to their meeting.

* * *

A week later, Sakura was sitting in the dining hall with Nagisa, Tamao and a few other fourth-years. The entire hall was chatting animatedly as everybody knew that today the cast for _Carmen_ was going to be announced. As soon as Miyuki stood up, the entire dining hall went silent.

"I will now announce the main cast for the play," Miyuki stated as she stood up. "Furthermore, I shall assign the remaining roles and staffing positions later." Miyuki continued.

"Ne, ne onee-sama," Nagisa said, tugging on Sakura's sleeve.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, turning her lapsing attention from Miyuki to her foster sister.

"Who do you think will be Carmen?" Nagisa asked, once Sakura turned to look at her.

"Don't know," Sakura replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Probably..." but she was cut off when Nagisa shushed her and pointed to Miyuki. Sakura immediately turned her attention back to the president.

"Now then," Miyuki continued as the hall fell silent. "I will announce the results." The students in the hall became even quieter. "The heroine Carmen's role will be..." the hall waited with bated breath. "Lulim's Minamoto Chikaru-sama," Miyuki finished.

There was a long pause of silence, then... The whole hall burst into chaos and noise. Sakura just rolled her eyes while trying her best to shut out the exclamations of surprise, but failing miserably.

"This can't be..." Shion said, looking dumbfounded.

"She said it would be Chikaru-san!" Nagisa exclaimed.

"Hai," Tamao agreed with her roommate.

"She did it! It's Chikaru onee-sama!" A Lulim girl Sakura recognized as part of Chikaru's many clubs exclaimed, grabbing onto her friend.

"Congratulations!" The other Lulim student yelled.

The only thing Sakura did not try to block out was the conversation between Miyuki and Chikaru which went along the lines of Chikaru saying that she was honoured to be chosen to play the role of Carmen, but wondering who would do the costumes, to this Miyuki replied by asking Chikaru to do both if she could and Chikaru agreed. After that, Miyuki announced that Don Jose would be played by Etoile, Hanazono Shizuma-sama, the Commander of the Guard would be Kenjou Kaname-sama from Spica, Ella, Don Jose's fiancé, would be Kiashiki Momomi-sama, also from Spica and Escamillo would be played by Ohtori Amane-sama, again from Spica.

After that everybody ate dinner while continuously talking about who Miyuki had picked for the cast, which made Sakura quite irritated, after all, she _was_ being forced to participate in something she wanted nothing to do with as it reminded her too much of the time when Yumi was put in _Cinderella_ at Lillian and the subsequent events that followed. As soon as she finished eating, Sakura excused herself and left the hall to go outside, much to the dismay and worry of Nagisa and Tamao. Once she was outside, Sakura took a deep breath of the crisp night air and walked to a random tree where she stood with her back turned on the dorms, looked at the sunset and began to softly sing.

* * *

Shizuma was looking for Sakura. After Miyuki's announcement about the cast for the play, she had eaten her dinner faster than anyone else and left the hall as soon as she finished. Shizuma had checked all the lounges, unused rooms and even Sakura's own room, but to no avail. Shizuma didn't want to admit it, but she was very worried about her old friend, and not being able to find her only made it worse. It was only when she stepped outside did she see a figure leaning against a tree with her back to Shizuma. As Shizuma began to wonder why someone was over there she heard singing and realized that it was the girl by the tree weaving such a beautiful song. Once she got closer she realized that the girl in question was Sakura. Shizuma stopped a few feet away, aware that her presence may cause the beautiful melody to stop. It was then that Nagisa, Tamao and Chikaru decided to come outside and continue their own search for Sakura out there.

"Etoile-sama?" Nagisa began, surprised that Shizuma was just standing around.

"Shhh," Shizuma commanded, not unkindly, as she wanted to listen to Sakura's singing voice some more.

"Eh?" Nagisa asked, confused.

"Listen," Shizuma suggested. And Nagisa complied. As the group fell silent, they could hear it, a most beautiful melody reached their ears. After about two minutes Nagisa broke the silence.

"It's onee-sama!" She exclaimed in a whisper.

"Eh? You mean that's Sakura-san singing?" Tamao seemed genuinely surprised.

"She sounds so beautiful," Chikaru commented, closing her eyes the better to concentrate on the melody.

Everybody nodded their heads in agreement and followed Chikaru's example and closed their eyes. After another two minutes Tamao quietly led the others to stand only a few feet behind Sakura.

Sakura, unaware that she had an audience, ignored them and continued singing: _"__Maria-sama no kokoro sorewa uguisu, watashitachi to ut-"_ she stopped abruptly when she realized that someone was watching her. She turned around to see Shizuma, Nagisa, Tamao and Chikaru standing behind her.

"Don't stop," Nagisa begged her.

"Keep singing," Chikaru requested.

"It's so pretty." Tamao added as the others nodded their heads in agreement.

Too tired to argue, Sakura nodded, turned back to face the now almost gone sun, and began again.

"_Maria-Sama no kokoro, sorewa aozora/watashitachi wo tsutsumu hiroi aozora/Maria-Sama no kokoro, sorewa kashi no ki/watashitachi wo mamoru tsuyoi kashi no ki/Maria-sama no kokoro, sorewa uguisu/watashitachi to utau mori no uguisu/Maria-Sama no kokoro, sorewa yamayuri/watashitachi mo hoshii shiroi yamayuri/Maria-Sama no kokoro, sorewa safaia/watashitachi wo kazaru hikaru safaia.__" _

As the last note died away, Sakura turned around to face her friends and, in Shizuma's case, her sempai, who all just looked at her.

"That was amazing onee-chan!" Nagisa told Sakura, finally breaking the silence.

"Yea, it was so pretty, where did you learn that song?" Chikaru asked Sakura.

"At my old school," Sakura answered, "it was an all-girl's Catholic school called Lillian Girl's Academy. I went there last year with my best friend Yumi and a girl that I figured out was my biological older sister, whom I had not seen for years prior to that moment."

"That must have been awkward," Tamao commented.

"You don't know the half of it," Sakura said before yawning. "It's late, so I'm going to bed, night guys," Sakura said, stifling another yawn as she waved to the four girls before heading up to her room to crash for the night, having no idea how stressful the next couple days were going to be.

* * *

**A/N: hey guys, sorry for the late update, my mom's been getting on my case for too much fanfiction. i got exams in two weeks so don't expect any updates for at least a couple weeks. i guess thats it for now. R + R please!**

**PS: the song Sakura is singing is "Maria-Sama no Kokoro" and it's from one of the Maria-Sama ga Miteru specials/OVAs (can't remember which one though, sorry!)**


	10. Chapter 9: The Theatre Festival Part 2

**Disclaimer: i dont own anything marimite or strawberry panic**

**Chapter Nine: The Theatre Festival – Part 2: The Final Day**

Many days went by and finally it was the final day before the Theatre Festival and Sakura couldn't have been happier. The last few weeks had been so stressful for her; not only was she assisting Miyuki in making sure everything was running smoothly, but she was also helping Shizuma with her lines and lending a hand to Chikaru in putting together the costumes. She also found herself getting on stage and showing actors different blocking techniques and even changing some things that Miyuki was trying to do, but just weren't working. Needless to say, by the final week, Sakura just wanted to get the whole ordeal finished and over and done with as soon as possible.

Walking along the hall to the backstage theatre doors, Sakura was reading over notes on her clipboard and going through a list of things to be done in her head and hoping everything would go smoothly today so that everyone could get through a run-through of the production without any problems, even though she knew that that was next to impossible. As Sakura neared the doors, she could hear a commotion coming from inside, quite a bit of shouting. "Probably those Spica girls complaining about something again," Sakura thought, rolling her eyes as she pushed open the door. When she stepped backstage the shouting was louder and more prominent, it seemed to be coming from the main stage. When Sakura walked around to the front she saw a huge crowd of cast and crew members watching something that was happening onstage.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked a nearby student.

"Kaname-sama and Momomi-sama are complaining and being rude again," the girl replied without looking at Sakura who had begun to push her way through the crowd.

Upon reaching the front of the crowd, Sakura looked out onto a most enraging scene. Kaname and Momomi really were creating a scene, and it made Sakura mad.

"Our part here is done," Kaname was saying.

"Yes, there is no need for us to stay here any longer," Momomi agreed.

"It'll be fine as long as the staff does their work properly during the play," Kaname added as the two started walking away.

"Wait!" Nagisa, running from who knows where, yelled as she ran. "Please, wait!" She said as she got on the stage. "Please stay here until the rehearsal is over," Nagisa started once she caught her breath, while Kaname and Momomi turned around to face her. "Because everyone's been doing their best during the past few weeks," she continued as Kaname and Momomi gave her a look that said *why should we care?* "More importantly, I don't want to see everything fall apart the night before the play." Nagisa continued, ignoring the looks that Kaname and Momomi were giving her. "The students from all three schools are looking forward to seeing our play. Therefore we should combine our efforts and do a play that will satisfy everyone," she finished with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"That's none of my business," Kaname said, glaring at Nagisa.

"If this continues, we'll back out," Momomi threatened, turning to Miyuki and Sakura who had made her presence known by standing beside the production director.

"This can't be…" Nagisa was too stunned to say anything more than that.

"Besides, it's too late to find a replacement at this point," Kaname said, cutting Nagisa off as she and Momomi walked up to Nagisa, who refused to move from where she was.

Momomi glared at Nagisa for a minute before yelling "Get out of my way!" With that, she shoved Nagisa to the side and continued walking.

Nagisa, who had cried out in shock as she was shoved away by Momomi, crashed into the set for the final scene and climax of the play and fell to the floor. Sakura looked up as she, and everybody else in the vicinity, heard a loud creaking, and watched in horror as the giant, not to mention heavy, set started to fall to the floor, right towards Nagisa who just stood in frozen shock. All of a sudden, as the set got closer and closer to Nagisa, Shizuma rushed out of nowhere to knock Nagisa out of the way but wound up tripping and crashing into her instead. This sent them both to the floor as the set kept falling. Sakura, watching in terror, made a split second decision. She dropped her clipboard on the floor and sprinted towards Nagisa and Shizuma who had picked themselves up off the floor and were looking up at the looming set.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Sakura yelled as she crashed, head-first and at full speed, into Nagisa and Shizuma, sending the two of them careening into Kaname and Momomi. As Sakura crashed onto the floor she hit her head and almost knocked herself out. When Sakura could see straight again, she looked up and saw the set come; she chanced a quick look over to Nagisa who had recovered from the crash rather quickly, then back up as the set came crashing down on her.

* * *

"ONEE-SAMA!" Nagisa, who had recovered from the crash with Kaname and Momomi faster than the other three, turned around and looked behind her in time to lock eyes with Sakura for a moment before the set came down on her sister. "ONEE-SAMA!" Nagisa screamed again, trying to get to her sister, but Shizuma, also recovered from the crash by now, held her back and protected her from the massive wind that came after the set crashed to the floor. "ONEE-SAMA!" Once the wind stopped Nagisa ran over to the ruins of the set. "ONEE-SAMA!" Nagisa started attempting to tear the ruins apart. "ONEE-SAMA!" She stopped when she found a scrap of Sakura's uniform caught on a protruding piece of wood. "Onee-sama…" Nagisa crouched down and held the scrap of cloth to her chest. "ONEE-SAM A!" with that last cry, Nagisa burst into tears and slumped to the floor as the other students gathered around, not believing what had just happened.

"Nagisa..." Tamao and Shizuma came over to her, Tamao hugging her tight.

"Why?" Nagisa asked through her tears. "Why did it have to be onee-sama? Why? Why, ONEE-SAMA?" Nagisa yelled, tears streaming down her face, as Tamao, Miyuki and Shizuma tried to calm her and the rest of the students gathered began to talk amongst themselves, some of them crying like Nagisa.

"SHUT UP!" Something that sounded like Sakura's voice rang through the theatre, commanding attention, and silencing even Nagisa's uncontrollable tears.

"Nee-sama?" Nagisa asked, looking around for the source of Sakura's voice.

"Yes stone ears." Sakura replied, making everyone else begin to look for the source. "I have been yelling at you for about five minutes." Sakura's voice continued. "Now are you going to help me get out of here or not?"

"Y-yes," Nagisa agreed, "but, where are you?"

"Stuck under this set, where do you think?" Sakura answered sarcastically. "I'll try to stick my arm out so you can see me." There was a creaking noise and then Sakura's hand was visible, not too far from where Nagisa, Tamao and Shizuma were.

"Okay," Nagisa said once she spotted the hand. "I can see you, but what can we do, there aren't enough of us to lift the set off of you."

"Just bring me a crowbar," Sakura said, withdrawing her arm.

"Why?" Nagisa asked, as Chikaru ran to get what Sakura asked for.

"So I can use it to gain the leverage needed to get me out of here," Sakura explained exasperatedly.

"Got one!" Chikaru exclaimed as she re-entered the stage area with a rusty crowbar

"Great!" Sakura exclaimed, making her arm visible again. "Now hand it to me."

Chikaru did as she asked and Sakura withdrew her arm and the crowbar at the same time.

After some hammering, ripping and cursing, Nagisa could see a board on the top of the now-ruined set come loose.

"HYA!" With a yell that ripped through the expectant and nervous silence, the loose board went flying from the set and crashed to the floor in front of Kaname and Momomi who had recovered from the crash a while ago and were kept where they were by Spica's student council president.

Nagisa sweat-dropped as another, louder, ripping noise, followed by a string of curses and other obscenities, emanated from the hole created by the now-gone loose board. A hunched figure holding a crowbar cast a creepy shadow, created by the lighting in the theatre, came up out of the hole and everyone in the theatre screamed.

* * *

As Sakura climbed out of the hole she had made using the crowbar Chikaru had given her, she heard the whole theatre shriek in terror. She couldn't blame them, she probably looked like some freakish horror movie monster with her hair everywhere and her uniform in shredded pieces, not to mention all the blood from where the wood of the set cut her as she attempted to dig herself out of the hole that she got squished in, thank goodness the set crew hollowed out the windows to make it look more realistic.

"ONEE-SAMA!" Sakura was almost knocked over by the force of Nagisa leaping onto her. "Onee-sama," Nagisa cried into Sakura's shoulder, clinging to her like she would disappear if she let go. "Onee-sama, onee-sama..."

"There, there, Nagisa," Sakura asked, stroking her sister's head in an attempt to calm her. "Everything's okay, _I'm_ okay, shh, shh," Sakura kept up her soothing words and actions until Nagisa, and consequently everyone else in the room, calmed down and just looked relieved.

"Are you alright?" Chikaru asked, coming up with Amane, worry clearly etched into her features. Before Sakura could answer, the doors at the top of the theatre flew open and someone yelled at the top of their voice.

* * *

_**Earlier That Day**_

Sachiko, Rei, Yumi, Yoshino, Shimako and Sei were wandering around, staring at the grounds and buildings on them in sheer wonder and awe. Youko had emailed Sachiko, and the rest of the current Yamayurikai, about a Theatre Festival happening at Astraea Hill, the school Sakura went to being situated on it along with three others. Miyuki had found Miator's website by chance and found an article about the upcoming production of _Carmen_ by the residents of the Strawberry Dorms. She also found out that Miyuki Rokujou was the director, and that Sakura Aoi, Sachiko's sister, was the Assistant Director for the production.

Leaping at the excuse to check up on her little sister, Sachiko decided that the Yamayurikai should go and see the production, as it might be an interesting one to perform at Lillian sometime. However, due to a family commitment on Touko's part, a mandatory ceremony for Noriko and University time restraints for Youko and Eriko, it turned out that only Sachiko, Rei, Yoshino, Yumi and Shimako could go, Sei had just tagged along for the ride.

After a long plane flight and a short drive, the small group had arrived at Miator, where they were greeted by the Head Sister, whom Sachiko had previously contacted to inform of their visit. The Head Sister explained that everybody working on _Carmen_ were in the theatre for one final rehearsal before the performance the next day. Thinking that Sakura would also be there, the group got directions and headed towards the theatre.

After a short walk, they made it to the theatre and, not wanting to disturb anybody, watched the proceedings from beside the special effects booth where two Miator girls were working. They watched with interest as two girls in white uniforms shoved a redhead in a black uniform against the set, which started to fall towards the poor girl. They saw another girl try to get the redhead out of the way, but tripped and crashed into her instead, sending both of them to the floor. Then they watched in utter horror as the girl they originally came to see, yelled at the two girls and pushed them out of the way, falling on her knees and only managing to lock eyes with the redhead for two seconds before the set landed on top of her.

The group stood frozen to the spot, not believing what had just happened. Yumi started to hiccup and Yoshino, Shimako and Rei already had tears running down their faces. Sei stood still as a flashback of the day the Head Sister at Lillian told them that Sakura had been in a car crash and could possibly be dead. Sachiko too stood frozen, eyes wide, unable to move, unable to breathe, the terror she felt on the day of Sakura's accident coming back ten times worse than it had before.

Suddenly, one of the girls in the effects booth shrieked and pointed at the stage, grabbing the Yamayurikai members' attention immediately. They watched as an arm came out from under the set and a girl in a pink uniform with a light yellow sweater handed it a crowbar before disappearing again. Minutes later, a yell was heard, followed by a board flying off the set and a figure emerged as the entire theatre shrieked in terror.

Recognizing the figure as Sakura, the Yamayurikai members breathed a sigh of relief and wiped their eyes of their dried tears. Sachiko started breathing again and, once she was back at a normal heart-rate, hardened her face into a mask of anger took off towards the stage, yelling Sakura's full name as loud as she could in order to get the other girl's attention.

* * *

_**Present Moment**_

"SAKURA AOI KUSUMOTO OGASAWARA!"

Sakura flinched at the use of all her last names in one sentence and looked at Shizuma who had stiffened at the more-than-familiar voice yelling loud enough to fill the entire theatre.

"Onee-sama," Sakura said exasperatedly as she stepped away from a curious Nagisa and turned around to see the rapidly approaching figures of her sister and some of her friends from Lillian. "I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't yell your head off as a way of announcing yourself. It is highly unnecessary and very..." Sakura didn't get to finish her sentence as Nagisa's earlier death-grip on her was replaced by that of her elder sister.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Sachiko ordered, freeing Sakura who was immediately enveloped by Sei, Rei, Shimako and Yoshino all at the same time.

"What are you trying to do? Give us all a heart attack?" Sei asked, pulling away to give Sakura a dirty, yet relieved, look.

"We got enough of that after the car crash," Yoshino said, also pulling away to glare at Sakura.

"Yoshino's right, we would prefer it if something like that didn't happen again," Shimako agreed, following Yoshino's example by letting go of Sakura, leaving Yumi as the only one to not let go of her friend.

"Umm, onee-sama," Nagisa said, tugging on Sakura's sleeve to get her attention, "who are they?" she asked, voicing the question on everybody's mind at the moment.

"Oh right," Sakura said, looking from her sister to the confused looks of the rest of the gathered group and back again. "Everyone, these are friends of mine from my last school: Satou Sei-san, currently attending University, Yoshino, Shimako and Yumi, fifth-years, and Rei and Sachiko who are sixth-years. These are Nagisa and Tamao, fourth-years at Miator, Chikaru, a fifth-year and the Student Council President of Lulim, Amane, a fifth-year at Spica, Miyuki, a sixth-year and the Student Council President of Miator, and Shizuma, a sixth-year and the Etoile of Astraea Hill," Sakura said, giving introductions and pointing at each girl as she said their names.

"So this is the infamous Hanazono-san," Sei said, flashing her signature Cheshire-cat grin while Shizuma and Sachiko just stared at each other. "I thought she looked familiar, I stole a peek at your photo album when you weren't looking," she said, as means of explaining herself to the others.

"Anyway," Sakura said, choosing to ignore Sei for the time being, "what on earth are you guys doing here?"

"Youko was surfing the web and found out about this Theatre Festival thing going on here," Sei said.

"She recognized it as the school you were attending and emailed all of us the link to it," Rei said.

"And Sachiko-sama used it as the perfect excuse to come visit and check up on you," Yoshino said.

"Thank Maria-sama we did," Sachiko said, breaking eye contact with Shizuma to glare at Sakura. "What on earth were you thinking?"

"That people I care about were in trouble, and I wasn't going to lose someone important to me for a third time when there was something I could do to stop it," Sakura replied, glaring right back at Sachiko.

"So you decided to risk your own life?" Sachiko asked incredulously.

"Why not? It's exactly the same thing Lance did is it not?" Sakura asked, inwardly flinching when she brought that subject back up.

"Sakura's right onee-chan," Yumi said, speaking for the first time but refusing to let go of Sakura. This started up a whole new debate between the members of the Yamayurikai while Sakura rolled her eyes.

"What's going on?" Nagisa asked, looking at Sakura who was thinking about how to change the topic again. "Onee-sama, what are they talking about?"

"It's nothing Nagisa-chan," Sakura said, looking at her little sister. "Don't worry about it."

"That doesn't mean she should risk her life!" Sachiko exclaimed, bringing everyone's lapsing attention back to the new arrivals.

"Ahem," Sakura said, clearing her throat and getting everyone's attention before the debate turned violent. "I don't mean to interrupt your discussion on my actions, however we have a set to rebuild and a rehearsal to get through before the performance tomorrow, so if you don't mind, I'll have you wait in the Strawberry Dorms for me while we get everything sorted out here."

"No way," Sachiko deadpanned. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Fine, whatever," Sakura said rolling her eyes at the over-protectiveness of her elder sister. "Suit yourself, however I will request that you help us out." As Sakura made to start, she realized that Yumi was still attached to her. "Um, Yumi? Could you let go of me please?" After watching Yumi spring back with a raccoon face and many apologies, Sakura gathered the other Astraea Hill students and the Lillian students together. "Okay everyone!" Sakura yelled, getting everyone's lapsing attention. "We've got a lot of work to do, but if we all work together, I think we can fix this in time for the performance tomorrow. Let's get to work!"

With that, all the students began rushing around doing various things; cleaning up the broken set, grabbing tools, painting, etc. As Sakura worked, she watched with satisfaction that everyone was working together to fix the mess Kaname and Momomi, who were also helping under Shion's watchful eye, had made in the first place. She also watched Sachiko and Shizuma work together, without speaking, so as to make sure neither of them killed the other. Sakura sighed and continued to work, hoping that the next day, the day of the performance, would go through without a hitch. Boy did she have another thing coming.

* * *

**A/N: hey guys. wow, two chapters in what? two days? thats a new record. not really, i basically just took an earlier version of this fanfiction and modified it to fit into these chapters. prolly wont update for a while after this, but i hope you guys enjoy. next chapter: the theatre festival begins! (took long enough) what sort of trouble is going to be brewed up? R + R to find out!**


	11. Chapter 10: The Theatre Festival Part 3

**Disclaimer: i dont own anything**

**Chapter Ten: The Theatre Festival – Part 3: Carmen**

The next day the set was finished and looked just as good as the original. Everyone was exhausted and just wanted to sleep for the few hours there was before the performance. However, Miyuki had other ideas. As soon as the set was up she had Sakura call for a final run-through, amid many groans from the actors. Sakura joined Miyuki in front of the stage and was confused when the other girl looked at her and shook her head.

"Go to the infirmary Aoi-san," Miyuki said. "You still haven't been checked out for permanent or serious damage and you need the rest." The way Miyuki said it made it sound like a request, but Sakura knew it was an order, so she simply nodded her head and headed out of the theatre, the Lillian group close behind her.

They were halfway to the door when Sakura suddenly stopped and looked behind her, only to roll her eyes when she saw Sachiko and Shizuma having a heated conversation, while at the same time managing to glare daggers at each other. _"If looks could kill..."_ Sakura thought to herself as she motioned the others to wait for her and approached the two older girls' whose conversation seemed to have calmed down as the two girls had stopped glaring at each other.

* * *

Everyone had just finished rebuilding the set and Shizuma was quite impressed with the work ethic all the students, especially Sakura and Nagisa, had shown. She was about to get on the stage for one last run-through when she saw Sachiko approach her. Knowing that this had been coming all along, Shizuma just stood and waited.

"Ogasawara-san," Shizuma politely addressed Sachiko when she was only a few feet away. "It has been a while."

"Indeed it has Hanazono-san," Sachiko responded, equally polite though it seemed somewhat forced. "I wonder how long it has been?"

"About six years would be my guess," Shizuma replied. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, your sister perhaps?" Shizuma smirked when she saw Sachiko pale slightly.

"Sakura has nothing to do with this," Sachiko said, not bothering to act polite anymore, "and how would you know she is here?"

"She is Aoi Nagisa-san's elder sister, albeit adopted elder sister, but still her elder sister nonetheless," Shizuma responded. "I recognized her immediately the first time I saw her here at Miator, though I didn't say anything to her until two nights ago."

"I see," was all Sachiko said, starting to glare daggers at Shizuma who returned the gesture just as fiercely. After a few minutes of this silent glaring contest, Sachiko hardened her glare and narrowed her eyes. "Stay away from Sakura," she warned.

"And why would I want to do a thing like that?" Shizuma asked, turning to teasing instead of impoliteness to get under Sachiko's skin. "After all, she did tell me that she had missed me after all the years we hadn't seen each other. Which reminds me, why did you never tell me that she was disowned?"

"That is none of your concern," Sachiko said hotly. "However, if you must know, I was sworn by my mother to never mention Sakura's name ever again. I was an only child and always would be, in the eyes of my family anyway. Besides," here Sachiko looked away from Shizuma, as if ashamed, "it's partially my fault she was disowned in the first place. I didn't fight for her, I let them do all sorts of awful things to her and I...I didn't do anything about it. What kind of sister does that?" Sachiko asked, facing Shizuma who was surprised at the look she got from her old friend.

Sighing at the desperate look on Sachiko's face, Shizuma crossed the foot of space that separated them and pulled her friend into a tight hug. "It was out of your hands," Shizuma said, trying to be reassuring. "There was nothing you could do, even if you wanted to. It wasn't your fault, and Sakura doesn't blame you for it."

* * *

Sakura approached the two older girls and was only a few feet away when she saw Shizuma hug Sachiko. Walking up to them, she managed to hear what Shizuma was telling Sachiko.

"It was out of your hands," Shizuma said, "there was nothing you could do, even if you wanted to. It wasn't your fault, and Sakura doesn't blame you for it."

"You better believe I don't," Sakura said, making her presence known and smirking inwardly as Sachiko and Shizuma sprang apart from each other. "I told before, I don't blame you onee-sama and I never did," Sakura said, looking at Sachiko, "and I can't believe you needed Shizuma of all people telling it to you to make you believe it."

"What are you insinuating there, Sakura?" Shizuma asked, pretending to be hurt.

"Oh, nothing," Sakura said, smiling innocently at Shizuma.

"Right, no offence, but I don't really believe that," Shizuma said, returning the tease.

"None taken," Sakura replied. "Anyway, since Miyuki doesn't need me for the final run-through I'm going to take everyone to my room where they can sleep a bit before the festival starts."

"What about you?" Sachiko asked, regaining her composure and acting as if nothing had happened with her and Shizuma.

"I'm going to the infirmary to get checked out," Sakura said, "I'm fine, but Miyuki still wants me to go, if only to give her some peace of mind," she added, seeing the panicked expression on her sister's face.

Sachiko merely nodded and, after bidding Shizuma good luck, the pair of them joined the rest of the Lillian group and Sakura took them to the Strawberry Dorms where everyone crashed in her room until the festival and Sakura made her way over to the infirmary as per Miyuki's orders.

* * *

A few hours later Sakura was standing backstage with Nagisa and Tamao, amazed at the full house audience _Carmen_ had attracted. Sakura had been to the infirmary and, after being told that she was absolutely fine, everything looked worse than it actually was, she got some sleep before grabbing her friends from her room and letting them loose in the festival grounds, making sure they knew what time the play started. Looking out from behind the curtain with Nagisa and Tamao, Sakura was easily able to identify them, sitting in the middle of the theatre.

Just then, the lights went out and a voice that Sakura recognized as belonging to one of the tech girls from Miator came out over the intercom. "We now present to you the Strawberry Dorms upperclassmen's production of _Carmen_," she stated and the crowd grew quiet.

"It's about to begin," Miyuki said, appearing beside Sakura.

"Yea," Sakura said nodding as she prayed to Maria-sama that everything would go the way it was supposed to today. The curtain went up and the sound of heels hitting the stage reached Sakura's ears. As soon as they stopped, the lights went on and Chikaru was revealed in the costume she and Sakura had made for Carmen, amidst many squeals of delight from the audience.

"Chikaru-san looks so lovely," Nagisa said.

"She looks great!" Tamao added.

"Yea," Chio, Nagisa and Tamao's underclassmen helper, agreed.

Sakura nodded again and crossed her fingers, silently praying for Chikaru when she got a bad feeling as soon as Chikaru appeared onstage. After that, the play continued, Shizuma doing absolutely fabulous as Don Jose. The fight between Shizuma and Kaname went perfectly, if it was a little too intense, with the sound effects and the girls in the booth getting everything spot-on. Then it was time for Amane's performance as Escamillo, the bull fight scene went without a hitch and Sakura was beginning to feel like her bad feeling was just due to nerves for her friends. However, in the scene where Escamillo confesses his love to Carmen, Sakura's bad feeling intensified and she found out what it was all about.

"Ah, Carmen, I love you," Amane said.

"I also love you," Chikaru replied.

"I will also win the match in today's festival," Amane informed, twirling Chikaru around in a dance. "I'll do it for you!"

"Escamillo!" Chikaru said, leaning in towards Amane. That was when it happened. Sakura's enhanced eyesight allowed her to see it before anyone else. The heel on Amane's shoe broke right off and the pair of them started falling backwards.

Sakura looked around and saw Kaname and Momomi smirking in the shadows as they watched Amane fall. Sakura watched as they fell and she saw Chikaru narrow her eyes before slamming her leg out to stop the fall as she caught Amane, but then her leg twisted and she cried out in pain before she and Amane fell to the ground.

"What happened?" Amane whispered to Chikaru as she started to pick herself up off the stage.

"I sprained my leg," Chikaru whispered back. "It hurts and I cannot dance," Chikaru said, a little louder.

"Right," Amane said, taking the improvised hint. "You poor thing," Amane said, louder as she stood up, Chikaru in her arms. "Oh, my Carmen," Amane said as she walked offstage, carrying Chikaru with her amidst confused whispers in the audience and concerned whispers amongst those backstage.

As soon as the pair was offstage, Sakura joined Shizuma, Miyuki, Shion, Nagisa and Tamao who had gathered around the pair as Amane told them what had happened.

"When she helped me from the fall, she sprained her leg," Amane told the gathered group. "Etoile-sama, let's duel on the dance floor," Amane proposed.

"I understand," Shizuma said, "in order to buy us some time right?" Amane nodded and the pair ran onstage.

"Escamillo!" Shizuma shouted, pointing her sword at Amane. "This is a duel!"

"That's just what I wanted," Amane replied, pointing her own sword at Shizuma.

As the pair improvised their duel, Miyuki and Sakura were talking to Chikaru.

"It's really impossible for you to continue," Miyuki told Chikaru.

"I'm all right," Chikaru said, shaking her head.

"You need to stay off that leg," Sakura insisted, "because if you don't, you'll only make it worse, I should know."

* * *

As Sakura and Miyuki were dealing with Chikaru's injury, Nagisa was watching the duel onstage intently and trying to think of something she could do so that the production would be successful. Suddenly, she saw Shizuma's sword pointing backstage. At first, she thought it was pointing at her, but when she followed the direction more closely, she saw that it was pointing to something behind her. Turning around, while still following the sword's direction, she saw Sakura still talking to Chikaru. Looking at the sword and back to Sakura again, Nagisa approached her elder sister.

* * *

"Trust me Chikaru," Sakura said, "you need to get that looked at, it could be really serious."

"I'm fine," Chikaru said, refusing to let the production fail.

"No you're not," Sakura insisted and was about to say something more about Chikaru's condition when Nagisa tugged on her arm. "What is it Nagisa-chan?"

"Etoile-sama's sword is pointing at you," Nagisa said, nodding her head in the direction of the stage. When Sakura turned to look, she saw that, indeed, Shizuma's sword was pointing at her.

"What...?" Sakura asked, very confused and not understanding what Shizuma wanted from her.

Tamao looked between the sword and a confused Sakura again, and had a flashback.

_

* * *

__Tamao was sitting at her desk writing poetry for the Literature Club while she waited for Nagisa to come back after going to talk to Sakura about something when the door opened and her roommate came in._

"_Hey Tamao-chan," Nagisa said, approaching her roommate._

"_Yes Nagisa-chan, what is it?" Tamao replied, putting her pen down to look at her roommate._

"_You haven't seen Sakura onee-sama anywhere have you?" Nagisa asked, leaning against the window situated between her desk and Tamao's._

"_I thought you were just with her," Tamao said, wondering why her roommate would be looking for Sakura if she was just with her._

"_I went to her room, but she wasn't there," Nagisa explained. "I've looked everywhere and can't find her anywhere!"_

"_Calm down, Nagisa-chan," Tamao said, trying to reassure her friend. "I'm sure Sakura-san just went for a walk somewhere and isn't back yet."_

"_I guess," Nagisa said, pouting and looking out the window as Tamao went back to her poetry. "Oh!" Nagisa exclaimed, startling Tamao._

"_What is it?" Tamao asked, sounding alarmed._

"_I found onee-sama," Nagisa said, pointing at the window. "Come look."_

_Tamao came to stand at the window beside her roommate and looked out. Sure enough, there was Sakura, dressed in her ocean-blue pyjamas and talking with Etoile Shizuma-sama who was dressed in her own silver pyjamas._

"_What are they doing?" Nagisa asked, confused._

"_I could be wrong," Tamao said, watching the pair with interest, "but I think Sakura-san is helping Etoile-sama learn her lines for __**Carmen**__."_

"_Now that you mention it," Nagisa said, putting a finger to her chin. "I think I recall hearing Etoile-sama ask onee-sama to help her with her lines, no matter what part she got."_

"_At any rate, we should let them rehearse," Tamao said. "There's a lot of work they have to do in order for Etoile-sama to be ready for when they start actual rehearsals."_

"_Yea," Nagisa agreed, nodding her head and she and Tamao left the window to do their own thing, leaving Sakura and Shizuma to practise on their own._

* * *

"Sakura-san, you're up," Tamao said, coming out of her flashback as realization dawned on her. "You're going to be the substitute!" Tamao declared when Sakura turned to look at her.

"EH?" Sakura asked.

"You're the only one who knows all of Chikaru-sama's lines," Nagisa added, realizing what Tamao was going on about.

"But..." Sakura began, but was cut off by Shion.

"No buts, you're the substitute, so get changed!" Shion ordered, shoving Sakura into a dressing room.

* * *

Shizuma was improvising a duel with Amane and realized that it was taking way too long; the audience had even noticed it too.

"_Come on guys,"_ Shizuma thought as she continued the duel with Amane. _"You should have come up with __**something**__ by now!"_ No sooner had this thought passed through her head than the voice of that very same something, or rather _someone_, rang through the theatre in a desperate plea.

* * *

"Please, stop!" Sakura pleaded as soon as she walked onto the stage. "Please! Don't fight each other!"

"_That's the spirit,"_ Shizuma thought, looking at Sakura over her shoulder and silently noting how good Sakura looked in Carmen's costume.

"Escamillo, you are the hero of Seville," Sakura stated, as everyone backstage watched her improvise lines on the spot. "You are the star of the festival! Now please, go!" Sakura begged.

"I concede," Amane said, looking at Sakura. "I won't forget this Don Jose!" Amane vowed, turning to Shizuma before running offstage.

* * *

"That's too bad, the mishap with the shoe went well too," Momomi quietly whined to Kaname as the two watched Amane run past them to the backstage area.

"Yea," Kaname agreed. "Aoi Sakura...she's pretty good isn't she?"

* * *

As Amane explained everything to those gathered backstage, Sakura and Shizuma went on with the production.

"Oh, Carmen! I love you!" Shizuma told Sakura, who just stood there, looking away. "I quit the army and became a thief, just for you! Even you know that, right?"

"Hmpf, so what about it?" Sakura asked, turning her face so that Shizuma, and the audience, could see the pure malicious contempt in her eyes. "I will always be a free woman!" Sakura declared, turning around to face the audience. "I won't lie to my feelings!"

"Hear me out, Carmen!" Shizuma said, approaching Sakura and taking her hands. "Please! Let's go to a distant town and start over!"

"No! No!" Sakura shouted, pulling away from Shizuma. "The ring I received from you..." Sakura said, pulling a ring off her finger. "This is what I think of your love!" Sakura threw the ring out into the audience as Shizuma watched in horror. Before she could say anything, a loud roar of applause broke out as a light shone on one of the windows on the set that they had rebuilt that morning. "He won!" Sakura exclaimed, turning to the window. "I must go!"

"W-wait!" Shizuma yelled as Sakura began to run away. "Carmen!" Shizuma barked, her face full of anger.

Sakura turned around when Shizuma yelled her name as a bell sounded. She saw Shizuma run toward her, drawing her sword as she did so and thrust it right against Sakura's side as the theatre lights turned red and cast large shadows of Don Jose killing Carmen onto the stage behind them.

Locking shocked ocean-blue eyes with shocked amber ones, Sakura shuddered for just a second before she slowly closed them and slid to the ground at a regretful Shizuma's feet. After a few seconds, Shizuma's sword fell to the floor with a clang and her legs buckled underneath her and she slid to her knees beside Sakura's fallen form as the lights changed from red to a depressing light blue.

"Carmen..." Shizuma said, picking Sakura's limp form off the floor and holding it close to her. "Carmen... Carmen... Carmen... CARMEN!" Shizuma cried, her voice filled with anger, regret and pain. So filled with pain and remorse was her cry that everyone in the audience was either crying or close to tears. Turning her head down to look at Sakura, Shizuma bent her head and kissed Sakura softly on the lips. "Carmen..." Shizuma whispered, loud enough for the audience to hear, holding Sakura closer and hanging her head as the lights went out. After a couple seconds of shocked silence, the audience burst into applause as the curtain closed in front of the pair onstage.

* * *

Backstage, everyone involved with the play had come and gathered around Shizuma and Sakura. Shizuma stood up in the middle of the circle of people and helped Sakura up as well who was looking at the crowd of people applauding her incredibly confused.

"Onee-sama, you were incredible!" Nagisa exclaimed, hugging Sakura.

"That was a huge success," Miyuki agreed, nodding.

"Thank you so much Sakura-chan," Chikaru said, walking up to Sakura supported by her two club members Sakura now knew were called Kizuna and Remon.

Sakura looked at Shizuma, confused.

"You were great," Shizuma whispered in her ear and pulled back smiling, which in turn made Sakura smile too.

"I guess I was," Sakura said, looking at the ceiling as she sent a thankful prayer to Maria-sama for allowing the play to be a success.

* * *

**A/N: wow, longest chapter ive ever written. sorry for taking so long, i actually had this written like last week but wasn't sure if i should end it where i did. in the end i decided against adding more so i apologize as you will all have to wait for the next chapter before things start getting crazy again (and im not talking about sachiko vs shizuma) which is something else i should apologize for. im not very good at writing verbal fights and i thought it would be more fun to have sachiko and shizuma's relationship with each other be a little confusing and odd (as evidenced by shizuma's explanation to sakura about sachikos behaviour after sakura was disowned in an earlier chapter) i also made the whole theatre festival thing long on purpose because it helped set the stage for character behaviour in later chapters. um i think thats about it, so please R + R!**


	12. Chapter 11: New Enemy, Old Family

**Disclaimer: i don't own anything (except the story idea)**

**Chapter Eleven: New Enemy, Old Family...Wait! What?**

After the success of _Carmen_, Sakura's popularity around Astraea Hill increased dramatically and she found herself spending more time hiding in the greenhouse with Shizuma and Sachiko, who had decided to stay much longer than the rest of the Yamayurikai (all of whom had left to go back to Lillian right after they congratulated Sakura on the play's success) despite her duties at Lillian as Rosa Chinensis. Sakura didn't mind that Sachiko stayed, but it made her worried about how Yumi was faring and she was constantly alert for any verbal sparring matches between Shizuma and Sachiko that could potentially arise whenever the two of them were in the same room together, thankfully these didn't happen very often.

Sakura kept these concerns to herself once she found out from Shizuma that Sachiko had been granted permission to stay for two months as a sort of exchange/transfer student; a fact that was made painfully obvious when Sakura was informed that Sachiko would be her roommate while she attended her own classes at Miator. As the days went by, everything seemed relatively normal, aside from Sachiko's presence, and Sakura felt like she was at a true peace for the first time since Mizuki died, since Lance died. However, that feeling did not last long as Sakura's world was turned upside-down once again.

It started one night, about three days into Sachiko's extended stay, with the most realistic, and confusing, dream Sakura had in her entire life.

* * *

_Sakura woke up to find herself lying on a grassy hill beneath a cherry blossom tree beside the bluest lake she had ever seen. Sitting up to take in more of her surroundings easier, she realized she wasn't alone._

"_I was wondering when you were going to wake up," _

_Sakura jumped at the familiar voice and turned to her right to find Lance grinning a thousand watt smile at her._

"_Oh leave her alone Lance," Sakura turned to her left and found Mizuki sitting on her other side. "You know how she is. Besides, they told us it might take a while."_

"_Umm, if you don't mind me asking, where the hell am I, is this a dream and what on earth are you two doing here?" Sakura asked, looking from Lance to Mizuki and back again. "I mean, you're dead!"_

"_Yes, we are well aware of that fact," Lance said. Aside from the soft aura around him, he looked exactly the same as he did when he died, white wings and all._

"_As to your questions, you are in limbo, the place between life and death," Mizuki explained. Like Lance, the only difference to Mizuki's appearance was the white wings coming from her back and the soft aura surrounding her._

"_Does that mean that I'm dying in my sleep?" Sakura asked, confused._

"_No," Lance said, shaking his head. "You are not dying; you are only here because the two of us got permission from the 'Powers That Be' to bring you here. It's the only place where we are able to freely talk without fear of being overheard and thus, stopped."_

"_Stopped?" Sakura asked. "Stopped by who? For what? What is going on?"_

"_Calm down," Mizuki said, shooting Lance a filthy look for panicking Sakura. "We ourselves are not entirely sure what is going on either so we can't really say much. However, the 'Powers That Be' do know what is going on, or rather what will be going on, and are doing their best to stop it."_

"_We only know this because we were the ones sent to inform you of this," Lance added._

"_Why do the 'Powers That Be' want me to know about this?" Sakura asked, confused again._

"_Because, according to them, you are the only one alive who can stop whatever is going to happen," Lance explained._

"_We are merely here to inform and help you," Mizuki said._

"_Does this have anything to do with me being a Draconian and being more powerful than regular humans?" Sakura asked exasperatedly. "What do I look like, a superhero?"_

"_I wouldn't put that way," Lance said. "There is a lot more to the pair of us being Draconians than we ever realized, things that I am not at liberty to tell you, so you will have to figure them out on your own."_

"_Are people going to get hurt?" Sakura asked suddenly, thinking of Shizuma and Sachiko._

"_We hope not," Mizuki said. "It all depends on you and what the enemy decides to throw at you."_

"_Great," Sakura said, flopping back down on the grass. "Just what I need; something awful is going to happen, I'm the only one who can stop it, and the people who are supposed to be informing me of things and giving me guidance are my adopted sister and best friend, both of whom are dead. This sounds more and more like a dream that seems like a really messed-up comic book. It's no dream though, is it?" she asked, looking at Mizuki and Lance._

"_Afraid not," Lance said, shaking his head._

"_Perfect, so any idea of what I'm to expect in the next couple days?" Sakura asked, rolling her eyes.  
_

"_Unfortunately no," Mizuki said. "Right now our instructions were to warn you that something was coming so that you didn't ignore your gut feeling, like you did during __**Carmen**__."_

"_You saw that?" Sakura asked, sitting back up in surprise._

"_We saw all of it," Lance said. "We've been looking out for you since Mizuki got here and insisted that I help her take care of you, from up here anyway."_

"_You make no sense," Sakura said, "but thanks for looking out for me. It makes me feel better to know that I won't exactly be alone on this."_

"_Speaking of which," Mizuki interrupted, "Lance, we have to go, we did our job and now Sakura has to go do hers."_

"_We'll talk again later," Lance said, hugging Sakura quickly. _

"_Hopefully next time we'll have more information for you," Mizuki said, following Lance's example and hugging Sakura before going to stand beside Lance who was hovering over the lake._

"_See you soon," Lance said, waving as he and Mizuki disappeared in a sudden onslaught of mist, leaving Sakura to fall back onto her back and stare at the leaves of the cherry tree until she fell asleep._

_

* * *

_

Sakura woke up the next day really confused. The dream she had of Lance and Mizuki was still fresh in her mind and she had to fight the tears that came to her eyes when she realized that she had been talking to two of her most important people, both of which were dead, in her sleep. She didn't believe that it was just a dream, as her gut feeling told her otherwise and she refused to ignore that feeling again. Shaking her head to rid herself of her thoughts, she got ready for class and headed down to the dining hall with Sachiko, who looked at her oddly.

That day, nothing out of the ordinary happened and that night Sakura didn't dream of Mizuki and Lance again. The same thing happened the day after and the day after that. By the fourth day, and still nothing from Mizuki and Lance, Sakura began to have her doubts about her dream three days earlier. However, these doubts were squashed on the fifth day when Sakura found out how much trouble she had managed to get herself involved in.

* * *

_Sakura went to bed and woke up in limbo for the second time in less than two weeks. This time Lance was trying to wake her up and Mizuki was pacing back and forth in front of the pair._

"_What's going on?" Sakura asked, as Lance let go of her and she sat up._

"_They're moving," Mizuki said, still pacing. "Our enemies are moving and they're moving a lot faster than we had anticipated."_

"_And that pertains to me how?" Sakura asked._

"_They've found out who you are," Lance explained, trying to calm Mizuki and stop her pacing. "We don't know how they found out, but that's not the problem here."_

"_What's the problem then?" Sakura asked._

"_Now that they know that we've gotten your help, and they know who you are, they will most certainly come after you," Mizuki said, sitting down beside Sakura while Lance did the same._

"_They will send their minions after you in an attempt to kill you," Lance added. "Thankfully they don't know about your weakness during the new moon so they won't use that against you. However, they will try to kill you in order to keep you from spoiling their plans in the future and they may use others against you."_

"_Wait," Sakura said, paling as she thought of the danger to Sachiko, Shizuma and Nagisa. "If they're coming after me, in order to kill me, does that mean that they will try to use onee-sama against me? Will she, and others, be in danger because they are close to me?"_

"_It is not impossible," Mizuki said. "We don't know anything about what they will send after you. It could be as easy as a dumb beast that is unable to think for itself, or it could be as dangerous as a trained assassin."_

"_Dammit," Sakura said, standing up and pacing back and forth. "What am I going to do? I'll have to fight, obviously, but how am I going to do that? If they attack during the new moon, whether or not they know that it is my weakness, I won't be able to summon the sword that I use while I'm a Draconian."_

"_Calm down," Mizuki said, placing a reassuring hand on Sakura's shoulder. "We've already thought of that."_

"_Here," Lance said, tossing a decorative pen to Sakura who caught it mid-air._

"_What is this?" Sakura asked, calmer, but confused as she inspected the silver pen with gold plating and decorated with small jewels._

"_It's you're weapon," Lance said. "I know that you already know how to fight, even when you aren't a Draconian, so if you don't need to transform, then you don't have to. If you press the top of that down, you get a sword. It's an easy way to carry a weapon wherever you go without having to worry about unanswerable questions about why you are lugging a sword around with you everywhere."_

_Sakura gave him a sceptical look, but pressed the top of the pen and, sure enough, it glowed a brilliant white before transforming into the most beautiful weapon Sakura had seen in her entire life. Pulling the blade from its silver scabbard with gold swirl designs and precious gems, she noticed that the blade was about an arm and a half in length and the hilt was about two and a half fists in length._

"_It's the same kind of weapon that The Guardians use," Mizuki explained as Sakura studied and marvelled at the weapon. "The blade is made of the most valuable, unbreakable ore and the hilt is solid silver with solid gold accents. The large gem at the bottom of the hilt is a sapphire and the smaller gems along the hilt are sapphires, diamonds and emeralds."_

"_Wow, lots of glitz for a weapon," Sakura said, sheathing the sword and allowing it to turn back into a pen._

"_That's because they are usually just used for show and ceremonies," Lance explained. "They are only used as weapons in the most extreme cases."_

"_And I suppose that evil minions coming to kill me will count as an extreme case?" Sakura asked with sarcasm._

"_Pretty much yea," Mizuki said. "But before we discuss more on the subject, it appears Sakura that you need to get up." With that, Mizuki and Lance disappeared and Mizuki's words echoed in Sakura's head._

"_Sakura, you need to get up."_

_

* * *

_

"Sakura, you need to get up,"

Sakura finally figured out that it wasn't Mizuki talking to her, but it was Sachiko's voice telling her to wake up. Sakura felt Sachiko shaking her shoulders, as she attempted to wake Sakura up. "Ngh," Sakura said, rolling over to look at her sister, who was already dressed and ready to go. "What time is it?"

"It's 8:30," Sachiko stated.

"WHAT?" Sakura yelled, leaping out of bed and running into the bathroom to start getting ready for her classes, which started in twenty minutes "Why didn't you wake me up?" She asked, flying out of the bathroom and quickly pulling on her uniform.

"I tried to," Sachiko said, as she watched Sakura hurriedly gather her books up. "However, no matter how hard I tried, you wouldn't get up. If you hadn't been breathing, I would have thought you were dead." Sakura chose not to let on how close to the truth Sachiko was and instead grabbed her sister's hand and flew out the door to the school and her classes.

As Sakura sat in math class, she let her mind wander as she tried to process the events, and discussions, of her most recent dreams. She still found it scary and confusing as hell to know that some higher power was up to something evil and wanted to eliminate her because it thought of her as a threat. She also was still having a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that Lance and Mizuki were the ones giving her guidance and information.

"Aoi-san?" Sakura was jolted out of her musings at the sound of her name. She looked around and saw her teacher giving her an odd look.

"Sorry, what was that?" Sakura asked, trying to be polite while attempting to gather her thoughts at the same time.

"I asked if you would please come and do the problem on the board," the teacher replied, finding Sakura's behaviour rather odd, she was not one to daydream in class.

"Ah, right, yes of course," Sakura replied, walking up to the front of the classroom and taking the piece of chalk offered to her by her teacher as she looked at the aforementioned problem on the board. Just as she was about to put the chalk to the board, Sakura froze. It was almost unnoticeable, but there was a painful buzzing in her head, and it was getting louder by the second; definitely not a good sign. "Ahhh!" Sakura moaned, clutching her head in pain, dropping the chalk in the process, as the buzzing continued to grow in volume and intensity. Just as Sakura sank to her knees, hands still on her head as if that would make the pain go away, the buzzing immediately turned into a light hum.

"Aoi-san? Are you alright?" Sakura looked up to see her teacher's worried face as well as those of her classmates.

"I'm fine," Sakura said, standing up. "Just had a major hot flash, I must be getting a migraine. Do you mind if I go to the nurse's office?"

"Of course," her teacher said, nodding. "I'll have somebody drop your work off at your dorm for you."

"Thank you," Sakura said, before gathering her things and exiting the classroom.

As soon as she was out of the building, she made a mad dash for the forest, following the buzzing in her head until she came to stop behind a tree on the edge of a clearing. Staying with her gut feeling, Sakura stayed hidden and peeked around the side of the tree. What she saw made her heart pound in fear and confusion. There, in the middle of the clearing, was what seemed to be a monster resembling some sort of reptile. It was dark purple in colour and had strange red markings all over it and it seemed to be looking for something. Just then, it's head snapped up and it fixed Sakura with its bright yellow eyes before running straight at her. Not needing to be told to get a move on, Sakura turned on her heel and ran further into the forest, the monster right on her tail and hungry for her blood.

* * *

**A/N: I'm so mean aren't I? First no updates for months, then I leave you all on a cliffy like that. Apologies for both, mostly the updating thing though... finals were awful and then i had to start working right away so there hasn't been much time to update. Im leaving for Europe next week so i wont be doing any updating till I'm back, then my sister's exchange student comes from Tasmania so I'll be carting them around for the last week of August, then school and musical rehearsals start again... I really hope i'll have time to update for you guys somewhere in there but please don't kill me if I don't. Oh, and for those of you who are waiting 'patiently' for the next chapter of "A Rift In Time" don't worry, I'm almost finished and hopefully it'll be posted sometime today or tomorrow. Reviews make me write faster so R+R to get the muse going!**

**PS: if anybody wishes to submit fanart for this please feel free. I would love to see your interpretations of Sakura's Draconian form!**


	13. Chapter 12: New Monsters  New Problems

__

**Disclaimer: same old, same old. i don't anything it all belongs to respective creators**

**Chapter Twelve: New Monsters = New Problems**

Sakura had no idea how long she had been running for. All she knew was that there was a monster right on her tail, and it was gaining! Fumbling in her pocket, Sakura retrieved the pen Lance had given her in her dream. Just as she took it out of her pocket, she tripped on an exposed tree root and went flying through the air to land hard on her stomach, the pen landing a few feet in front of her. Sakura turned around in time to see the monster almost upon her. Scrambling to her feet, Sakura raced to the pen, pressed the top of it and extended her sword just in time as the monster leapt on top of her, pinning her to the ground. Looking into the creature's mouth lined with razor sharp teeth that dripped with saliva and blood, Sakura began to feel a little panicked. As soon as she smelled the monster's putrid breath however, all thoughts of fear fled and were replaced by revulsion.

Gathering what little strength she had left over after her flight, Sakura raised the sword she held clutched in both hands and sliced the monster's belly open. Unfortunately, this covered her in blood as the monster reared on its back legs howling in pain. Sakura took this opportunity to get out from underneath it by rolling to the side. Once she was a good distance away, Sakura leapt to her feet and wasted no time in jumping into the air, bringing her sword down as she did so to slice the creature's head off. As soon as the head was separated from the body, the creature disappeared leaving only Sakura standing in the middle of the forest covered in blood and sweat and panting to catch her breath. She let the sword revert back to a pen before stowing it safely back in her pocket.

As she made her way back to the Strawberry Dorms, being careful not to be seen by anybody, Sakura thought about what had just happened and how she was going to deal with it. Obviously the monster that had attacked her was one of the minions sent to get rid of her, and it was more powerful than Sakura had anticipated. She was worried that those who were after her would send more powerful monsters than the one she had just faced, and if that happened it would put those she cared about in greater danger than even her friends had been in the previous year when they were taken hostage by her grandfather. The thought terrified Sakura to no end, and she needed to come up with a plan before another monster attacked her, or somebody else.

By the time Sakura made it back to the dorms, she had an idea. Racing up the stairs to the room she shared with Sachiko for the time being, doing her best not to leave a trail of blood along the way, she made it to her room without anybody seeing her. After taking a quick shower and changing her clothes, Sakura pulled a small suitcase out from under her bed, opened her closet and began to throw whatever she could fit in it. She threw in her small collection of non-school uniform clothes, the photo album Youko had sent her earlier with photos of the Yamayurikai, Lance, Mizuki and Nagisa and Shizuma added in, an extra set of toiletries, some pens, pencils and notebooks, and a pair of sneakers. Sakura then grabbed an empty backpack from under her bed and put in an extra set of clothes and a second pair of sneakers along with her wallet and cell phone before putting both the suitcase and the backpack back under her bed. Having completed those tasks, Sakura flopped onto her bed and fell asleep.

* * *

_Once again, Sakura woke up in limbo, and was welcomed with the sight of Mizuki pacing and Lance's worried frown._

"_Sakura!" Lance exclaimed, finally realizing Sakura was awake. "Are you alright? What happened?"_

"_What happened?" Sakura asked, incredulous. "What HAPPENED? I'll tell you what happened, I was attacked, that's what happened! One minute I'm in class, the next I have a pounding headache that leads me straight to a freaking monster! I barely managed to kill it and get out of there alive!"_

"_Yea, sorry, I forgot to warn you about that," Lance replied sheepishly._

"_Forgot to warn me about what?" Sakura asked, reverting to sarcasm to keep calm. "The fact that these minions that are after me are actually monsters, or the fact that unless I kill them I have a painful buzzing in my head?"_

"_Both," Mizuki replied, ceasing her pacing. "It seems that, since you're the only one who can kill these things at the moment, the Powers That Be decided that it would be wise to give you a warning every time one of them shows up."_

"_And that warning would be my headaches?" Sakura asked, not sure whether to be grateful for the heads-up or not._

"_Precisely," Lance stated._

"_Wonderful," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "Any idea how many more of these things are going to come after me?"_

"_Not a clue," Lance said, "however, I can assure you that there will be more. By now the ones controlling these monsters are already aware that you destroyed this first one and they will undoubtedly send more."_

"_Wonderful," Sakura repeated, rolling her eyes again. "So what do I do? Just keep killing these things?"_

"_For now, that is all you can do," Mizuki said. "We do have a solution, however..."_

"_Mizuki doesn't like it," Lance stated, cutting Mizuki off._

"_Indeed I do not," Mizuki continued, ignoring Lance. "It is ridiculously dangerous, but it might be the only thing to do."_

"_What's the solution?" Sakura asked, directing her question to Lance._

"_To send you to the area where these monsters are coming from," Lance answered._

"_So sort of an 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' sort of thing?" Sakura asked, incredulous. "Really? That's the best you could come up with?"_

"_Like I said, I don't like it," Mizuki repeated. "You can think about it, and if you don't want to do it, we will find another solution, but for now this is what was presented to us."_

"_I'll think about it," Sakura said, nodding her head in agreement with Mizuki's statement. "If we can't come up with anything better, then I'll do it. Alright?"_

"_Alright," Mizuki and Lance agreed at the same time._

"_Now you should probably go back," Lance said, "I have a feeling somebody found you and is having a little freak out."_

"_Next time you come, we will make a decision," Mizuki decided._

"_Alright, till next time then," Sakura said, watching as both Mizuki and Lance faded into the mist._

_

* * *

_

"Sakura! Sakura! Wake up! Please wake up! Sakura!"

Sakura was brought back to her world by the frantic voice shouting at her. Opening her eyes, she saw that it was Sachiko, shaking her and shouting in a panic.

"Ugh!" Sakura complained, sitting up. "What's wrong Sachiko? Why'd you wake..." Sakura was cut off as her sister threw herself on top of Sakura and proceeded to wrap her in a bone-crushing hug, consequently knocking the wind out of her.

"Oh thank Maria-Sama!" Sachiko cried, hugging Sakura tighter if that was even possible. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Sachiko reprimanded, pulling away from Sakura, but still not letting her go.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, slightly afraid that Sachiko knew about the monster encounter.

"I'm talking about you almost passing out in class!" Sachiko exclaimed, looking at Sakura like she had two heads, while Sakura herself breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. "Shizuma told me that Nagisa-chan had come to her saying that one of your classmates had told Nagisa-chan that you had gone to the nurse because of a headache. Shizuma said that when she went to check on you, the nurse said that you never showed up." Sachiko was talking faster now, almost hysterical. "Then I come to the dorms, thinking you had just gone straight to bed, only to find you passed out in bed and your school uniform lying in a bloodied, crumpled pile in the bathroom! I panicked and tried to wake you up, but you didn't move and..." Sachiko's tirade was cut off when Sakura put a hand over her sister's mouth.

"Stop right there," Sakura said, taking her hand off her sister's mouth. "I'm sorry for worrying you onee-sama, but I figured that since it was just a headache I could sleep it off. I got turned around and completely lost on my way back to the dorms and wound up in one of the forests. After falling down a good number of times and tearing my uniform on branches, I finally got back here. I was so tired I just changed out of my uniform and fell asleep. It's usually really hard to wake me up when I get like that, just ask Yumi-chan, so I apologize for not waking up sooner."

"I see," Sachiko said as she visibly relaxed, seeming to accept her sister's explanations when, in reality, she did not believe a word of it. "I'm glad then, just make sure you don't freak me out like that again." Sachiko didn't want to push Sakura away again; Sakura would tell her what really happened on her own time, so she just let the subject drop.

"I'll try not to," Sakura said, grateful that Sachiko didn't push her for more details by asking unwanted questions. "I can't make any promises though."

"Well, if that's the best you can do..." Sachiko sighed, half-finishing her sentence. "Anyway, since you're up now, let's go to dinner, you've been out most of the afternoon."

"Alright," Sakura said, deciding to think about Mizuki and Lance's idea later, as she followed her sister out the door to the dining hall.

* * *

A week later, Sakura had dealt with at least seven more monsters and she was beginning to feel that maybe Lance had a point in telling her to go 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' as Sakura herself had put it. It was getting difficult for Sakura to hide her monster killing excursions, especially since they seemed to happen at the most inconvenient times and there were only so many excuses Sakura could come up with to dash away and deal with it before someone got hurt. It didn't help that Sachiko was getting more and more suspicious and all Sakura's friends, including Nagisa, Chikane and even Amane, who Sakura had met through some of Nagisa's friends, had started asking more and more questions. Sakura wasn't sure how much longer she could hold off telling more people about herself, and, consequently, her past, something she wasn't too fond of doing. Also, due to her disappearing acts, her grades had been dropping, nothing too noticeable, but if she didn't find a solution soon, Sakura was sure she would fail.

The only thing that seemed to be going well for Sakura was her relationships with Sachiko and Shizuma, and the relationship the two of them had with each other. It went without saying that Sakura was genuinely surprised when Sachiko had dropped the animosity against Shizuma, it probably had something to do with the fact that both Sachiko and Sakura found out that Nagisa and Shizuma liked each other but were too nervous, or in Shizuma's case too wrapped up in the past, to do anything about it. At any rate, after discovering that the relationship between Sakura and Shizuma was simply platonic and that of close friends, Sachiko and Shizuma had rekindled their childhood friendship, which basically meant playful bantering and Shizuma acting like Sei, just to get under Sachiko's skin of course.

Throughout all of this, Sakura kept up her silent, internal debate about whether or not to follow Lance's advice and go to the area where all the monsters were coming from in the first place. Sakura tried her best not to think about it during class or other conversations, but she caught herself quite often and, more frequently than she wished, her friends would have to pull her out of an internal debate to ask her why she suddenly looked so pale. It wasn't until after a student from Lulim, Kagome Byakudan, ran into the last monster Sakura faced, a rather nasty frog-like one with bad breath and a slimy tongue that almost ate her, that Sakura made her decision.

* * *

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon and Sakura was in the library, her favourite spot in the entire grounds of Astraea Hill, looking for a book on monsters in order to do some research and see if there was a faster way to get rid of them as the battles were constantly getting longer and longer. She highly doubted that she'd find anything as this was a library of a Catholic school; so needless to say, she was quite surprised when she did find one.

It was an old, dusty, leather-bound book with no title whose pages were yellowing and words were fading with age. It caught Sakura's attention when it fell on her head, almost as if it wanted her to find it. Rubbing the spot on her head where the book landed, Sakura went over to a quiet corner of the library, seated herself in one of the comfy chairs and began to read.

"**Among many stories of this world, there are the ones centered around Orphans, monsters with purple skin and putrid breath..."**

That definitely sounded like many of the monsters Sakura had faced before and Sakura shuddered at the memory of her first encounter with the monsters as she continued to read.

"**...and the ones who destroyed them, the Draconians."**

Sakura's eyes went wide as she read the last part of the sentence. *Draconians? So Lance was right, there is more to my existence than either of us knew.* Sakura thought to herself, continuing to read as her interest peaked even more.

"**The Draconians were powerful beings, created by and descended from the Gods. Many believe them to be the children of the angels of the Lord and the almighty protectors of our world. The Draconians were created to battle the Orphans, the monsters spawned from the evil powers of the Underworld, and they did this for many centuries. The Draconians and the Orphans would do battle for their masters to determine a winner. It was a vicious cycle of death and destruction on both sides for many centuries. When all the Orphans vanished, the Draconians had won and would gain a respite for a couple hundred years until the next generation of Orphans was created. When the Draconians died, the Gods would create more for the next battle. However, if the Draconians were to vanish before the Orphans, another power would step up to take the place of the Draconians until more could be created. They were human girls blessed with powers, they were called..."**

Sakura had to stop reading at that point when the buzzing in her head that alerted her of a monster's, now an Orphan's, presence made her close the book in irritation. Forgetting to sign the book out, Sakura exited out the back of the library and ran through the rain to the outskirts of the forest, the buzzing leading her on. Sakura came to a small clearing close to the forest's edge where she found her next monster. It was like many of the ones Sakura had already faced with purple skin with red markings, the only difference being that this one more resembled a toad than anything else. Preparing to release her sword from its pen form, Sakura entered the clearing, making her presence known to the monster. The monster fixed Sakura with its large yellow eyes before pouncing on her, literally.

Sakura shoved the pen back into her pocket and managed to roll to the side before the monster landed on top of her, standing up in time to avoid a swipe from the creature's tongue that was just like a frog's, which took out a few trees. *Better the trees than me,* Sakura thought to herself, dodging another swipe at her head. Turning around, Sakura ran out of the clearing, hoping to put some distance between her and the monster, seeing as the trees around her meant that the thing couldn't jump on top of her and would instead be forced to use the only other method of attack: the tongue. The monster followed her, barely a meter behind.

It wasn't until the monster had almost caught up to her that Sakura realized that she had moved the fight in the wrong direction, towards the edge of the wood closest to the schools' grounds, but by then it was too late. Sakura only hoped that the rain was enough to keep the students indoors. Unfortunately, she was proven wrong. Sakura had just narrowly avoided another swipe with the tongue as the monster got more frustrated by the second when she noticed a little girl, a Lulim student with a teddy bear, standing a few feet away under a tree, completely oblivious to everything going on around her. Just then, the monster noticed the little girl too and, thinking she was easier prey than Sakura turned out to be, shot its tongue in the direction of the little girl. Sakura mentally swore and dashed towards the girl, who turned around just in time to see the tongue coming towards her before Sakura got between the two.

Sakura grabbed hold of the girl just as the monster's tongue reached them, slicing a large gash in Sakura's back. Flinching in pain, Sakura released her wings and flew into the air, the little girl still in her arms. Flying as fast as she could, Sakura placed the little girl a safe distance away before flying back towards the monster. As she flew, now completely serious, Sakura retrieved her previously stowed pen and transformed it into its sword form and prepared to strike the monster. However, the monster was quicker. It wrapped its tongue around Sakura's leg and began to pull her in, opening its giant mouth wide. Not ready to be dinner, Sakura sliced her sword through the creature's tongue, freeing herself. As the monster roared, more like croaked, in pain, Sakura brought her sword down on its back, slicing the vile thing in half and covering herself in its blood, before watching it disappear in green lights like the other monsters had.

Landing softly on the ground, Sakura let her wings disappear as she turned her sword back into a pen and put it back in her pocket before turning around to face the little girl she saved. The girl just looked at Sakura before silently walking up to her. Once she was standing a few feet away, the little girl stopped and held her teddy bear out towards Sakura who just blinked in confusion.

"Percival says thank you," the little girl said, still holding her bear out to Sakura who quickly realized that Percival must be the bear. "Percival says thanks for saving him and his friend."

"Well Percival and his friend are very welcome," Sakura said, bending down to the girl's level. "What is Percival's friend's name?"

"Byakudan Kagome," the little girl replied.

"Well Kagome-chan, Percival-san," Sakura said, coming up with a way to make sure the girl didn't tell anybody about what she had just seen. "Instead of thanking me, can you do me a favour?"

"Percival wants to know what the favour is," Kagome said, bringing her bear close to her again.

"I want Percival-san and Kagome-chan to not tell anybody about what just happened," Sakura said, smiling to reassure Kagome. "It's going to be a secret between the three of us; can you keep it a secret?"

Looking down at her bear, Kagome seemed to listen to it for a moment before nodding her head. "Percival says we can do that. Percival also wants to know what your name is and where you are from."

"Well my name is Sakura," Sakura said, thinking that telling Kagome her name was alright. "As for where I am from, I'm a fifth-year at Miator." Kagome nodded accepting Sakura's answer. "So, Percival-san, do you want me to take you and Kagome-chan back to the dorms before you get wetter than you already are?"

After looking at her bear again, Kagome nodded her head. "Percival says he would like that very much."

Nodding her head and smiling at Kagome, Sakura took Kagome's hand that wasn't holding Percival and the two girls and teddy bear started back towards the Strawberry Dorms. As they walked Sakura came to a conclusion. If the monsters were going to go after students instead of her, Sakura wanted to be far away from the school and the people she didn't want to get hurt. She decided that she would indeed go to where the monsters were coming from and put a stop to them once and for all. She put one hand in the pocket where she had put the book she found in the library and gripped it tight, hoping that it would be able to help her understand her purpose in being a Draconian as well as giving her hints as to how to stop the monster attacks for good.

After arriving at the dorms and making sure that Kagome, and Percival, were safe in their room with their friends, Kizuna and Remon, Sakura raced to her dorm room and flopped on her bed, eager to inform Lance and Mizuki of her decision.

* * *

**A/N: hey, sorry for the late update. yes the book sakura found was totally made up by me to forshadow for the next installment in this series. yes that means that this fic is almost done. cant say more right now cuz i gotta run to work so be happy i uploaded before i left. gotta fly! R+R please!**


	14. Chapter 13: New Decisions, Same Solution

**Disclaimer: same thing, i don't own anything it all belongs to respective creators. enjoy!**

**Chapter Thirteen: New Decisions, Same Solution**

_Sakura woke up in limbo again, but this time Lance and Mizuki were visibly more relaxed than they had been the last time._

"_Hey guys, what's up?" Sakura asked, sitting up as Lance and Mizuki walked over to her._

"_Not much actually," Lance said, sitting down beside Sakura. "Well, aside from your most recent attack, nice job on rescuing the girl by the way."_

"_Thank you," Sakura replied, and turned her head to Mizuki. "Have you come up with any other solutions other than the first one?"_

"_Unfortunately, no," Mizuki sighed, sitting down on Sakura's other side. "Have you made a decision yet?"_

"_Actually, I have," Sakura said, surprising both Mizuki and Lance as Sakura never took such a short time to make a huge decision like this before. "Would you like to know what it is?"_

"_Of course," Lance said, looking at Sakura like she had two heads._

"_So, what is it?" Mizuki asked, curious despite herself._

"_I think that I'm going to go with Lance's solution," Sakura stated. "I didn't really think much about what would happen if I was attacked in broad daylight close to the school until that incident today with Kagome-chan. When I think about what might have happened to her..." Sakura trailed off, shaking her head. "Anyway, if there is a chance that I would be able to keep something like that from happening again by going to where these monsters are coming from and get rid of them from the source, then I will do it."_

"_You do realize how incredibly dangerous this decision is?" Mizuki asked, wanting to make sure Sakura knew exactly what she was getting herself into. "If you go, you may not come back alive."_

"_I know that," Sakura said, "but it is my duty isn't it? I mean, that is what I, as a Draconian was created to do right? To kill these monsters and keep the world safe for as long as I could possibly live?"_

"_I take it that means you found the book then?" Lance asked, referring to the book Sakura found in the library that day._

"_Actually, it found me," Sakura said, unconsciously rubbing the spot where the book had landed on her head. "I was just at the part where the book explained about the human girls with special powers that would take the place of the Draconians should they die out before all the Orphans were eradicated from the world. That's when the monster attacked."_

"_I see," Lance said, nodding his head in thought. "I would suggest holding off on reading more until you get to where you need to go."_

"_Where exactly is it that I need to go to?" Sakura asked, remembering a very crucial detail. "It's not some desert country is it? Or mountain? Or Alaska?"_

"_No, none of those," Mizuki said, laughing despite the seriousness of the situation. "You won't even be leaving Japan."_

"_Really?" Sakura asked, surprise and confusion written all over her face. "Where am I going then?"_

"_It's a boarding school on Fuuka Island," Lance answered. "The school is Fuuka Academy and it is co-ed, just so you know."_

"_Co-ed? You're kidding right?" Sakura asked, paling only slightly._

"_I know that, because of your past, you're not too fond of men," Mizuki said, "but it's the place you need to go to."_

"_Fine, I suppose I can deal with it for a few semesters," Sakura said, throwing her hands in the air in mock defeat. "However, Sachiko is not going to like this one bit."_

"_Who said you had to tell her you were transferring to a co-ed school?" Lance asked._

"_You know what, I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that, but it is a good idea," Sakura said, shaking her head at the mischievous glint in Lance's eye. "I better get going, see you later." She waved as Lance and Mizuki were enveloped in mists once again._

_

* * *

_

Sakura woke up in her dorm room and glanced at the clock, she had only been unconscious for five minutes this time. Sitting up, Sakura sneezed and began shivering, realizing that she was still soaking wet and frozen to the bone. Sneezing again, and mentally berating herself for letting this happen, Sakura got off her now-soaked bed, grabbed a change of clothes and proceeded to have a long, hot shower.

Coming out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later, Sakura started up the laptop that her friends had given her before they left after the Theatre Festival as a means to keep in touch better with them. Sakura hadn't really used it much, but she figured it would be useful in searching the school she was supposed to go to. Logging onto the internet, Sakura used her default search engine to find the school's website. Once on it, Sakura immediately went to the page marked _"Transfer Applications"_ and found out that Fuuka Academy accepted second-year students' transfers all year round. _*Interesting,*_ Sakura thought, opening the application document, which she immediately filled out with her information and a fake reason for wishing to attend the school as she couldn't very well put _"to fulfil my destiny to destroy the monsters that have been attacking me and endangering people I care about."_ *Yea, that would go over _real_ well,* Sakura thought, rolling her eyes at herself.

Once finished, Sakura promptly emailed the document to the Director, Mashiro something or other, and patiently waited for a reply that she didn't think would come until the morning. She was then consequently surprised when she received an answer not even five minutes later, which read:

"_Miss Kusumoto,_

_First off, I would like to welcome you to the transfer student program here at Fuuka Academy. As you are aware, we at Fuuka offer our students the option of transferring all year round. Since you will be transferring in the middle of term, you will have to play 'catch-up' in some of your classes. You have been set up in a dorm with one of our first-year students, and don't worry none of the dorms are co-ed._

_Secondly, I would like you to know the reason you got accepted so quickly. While your academic and co-curricular activities are all excellent, you have not been accepted because of that, however we will use that as our excuse. The real reason you have been accepted is because I know who and what you are. Before you freak out about this, let me explain that this information is strictly between the two of us. I had previously been informed of your decision to transfer here and the reason for that decision. For that, I would like to thank you as you could do much good over here. _

_That is all I am going to say for now until we can talk properly face to face. I expect to see you at school no later than three weeks from now, however, if you are able to come beforehand, that would be wonderful. You will find a list of needed school supplies on the website as well as a form to fill out so your uniform fits properly when you arrive and pick it up. Again, welcome to Fuuka Academy._

_Sincerely,_

_Mashiro Kazahana"_

"What is that?"

Sakura nearly had a heart attack at the smooth voice whispering right in her ear. Slamming the laptop closed, she spun around to find Shizuma smiling innocently at her.

"Geez Shizuma, don't scare me like that," Sakura said, putting a hand on her chest for emphasis. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry," Shizuma said, not sounding sorry at all. "Chikaru said that you found Kagome-chan out in the rain and brought her back about an hour ago but she hasn't seen you since. Sachiko also wanted me to tell you that she would be staying at the library quite late because she wanted to do some things there. I saw you sitting here staring at your screen intently and just couldn't help myself, I had to tease you like that." Shizuma explained, grinning impishly at the last bit of her explanation.

"I see," Sakura said, nodding her head and accepting Shizuma's explanation before re-opening her laptop and scrolling to the uniform fitting form where she proceeded to fill out the needed information.

"So, now that I have your attention," Shizuma said, grabbing the chair from Sachiko's desk and sitting beside Sakura so she could look over the other girl's shoulder. "What are you up to?"

"Filling out a uniform form," Sakura responded, continuing to fill out the form.

"For what?" Shizuma asked, instantly curious.

"For the Fuuka Academy uniform," Sakura said, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Fuuka Academy?" Shizuma asked, not bothering to mask her surprise. "Why?"

"Because I'm transferring there, I have to be there in three weeks," Sakura said, finishing filling out the form and emailing it to Mashiro immediately after.

"Why?" Shizuma asked, now very confused, she had only just gotten back together with her friend, why would Sakura want to leave? She seemed quite happy at Miator.

"Because," Sakura sighed, turning to face her friend so that Shizuma could see the pain, regret, defeat and fear swirling in her eyes. "By being here, I am putting everyone in danger; you, Nagisa, Sachiko, Chikaru, Amane, everyone. I already lost one of my best friends that way and almost lost many others too. If I hadn't moved as quickly as I did, Chikaru and the others would have lost Kagome-chan today. I can't afford to make mistakes like that again. I can't put everyone in danger again, so I won't. I'm going to Fuuka so I can get rid of the danger once and for all, maybe then everyone will be safe. Then again, maybe they won't, maybe I'll fail and die, maybe..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Shizuma said, cutting Sakura off. "Rewind, what the heck are you talking about?"

Seeing the look of utter confusion on Shizuma's face, Sakura smiled sadly. "Sorry, I guess I forgot that nobody here, aside from Sachiko, knows about me, but it's better that way. Don't worry about it okay? When I leave, I'll get Sachiko to tell you, and Nagisa, everything. The both of you at least deserve that, especially after what I'm going to be putting everyone here through."

"What do you mean?" Shizuma asked, realizing that Sakura must be being vague on purpose, to protect her or something because that is what Sakura would do. "What are you putting us through?"

"Well, I'm transferring without telling anyone, which reminds me, please keep this conversation a secret okay?" At Shizuma's nod, Sakura continued. "I've also been keeping a lot of things from everyone, including Sachiko, and I really hate doing that, but it's something I have to do." Sakura sighed again. "Anyway, everyone deserves an explanation, but if they want one from me, then they're going to have to wait until I come back from Fuuka."

"So you _are_ coming back?" Shizuma asked, hope filling her voice.

"I'm planning on it, yes," Sakura said, deciding not to freak Shizuma out any more than she already had.

"Well then, that makes things easier," Shizuma said, relaxing visibly before her eyes lit up in sudden confusion and realization. "Wait! You said the school you were transferring to was _Fuuka Academy_?"

"Yea," Sakura said, confused now. "Why do you know it?"

"I think so," Shizuma said, placing her hand on her chin in thought. "Or at least, I've heard it mentioned quite a lot...hold on, I'll be right back." Shizuma whipped out the door, leaving a confused Sakura behind, before reappearing seconds later with two pictures in hand. "Show me the Fuuka uniform?" Shizuma asked, sitting back down beside Sakura.

Frowning at her friend in confusion, Sakura opened the uniform page again and showed Shizuma a picture of the uniform. "That's what the uniform I will be wearing looks like," Sakura said, pointing to one picture of the many on the single web page.

"Huh, well I'll be," Shizuma said, leaning back in her chair.

"What?" Sakura asked, curious now.

"I thought I heard the name 'Fuuka' somewhere before, now I know why," Shizuma said, seeming to be in thought.

"Why?" Sakura asked, beginning to get annoyed with Shizuma and her half-answers.

"My cousin," Shizuma said, showing the pictures she had brought to Sakura. "That's the school she's at."

Not paying attention to Shizuma anymore, Sakura stared at the photo in her hands dumbfounded. "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?" Sakura exclaimed, face red.

"What the heck is what?" Shizuma asked, outwardly feigning ignorance but inwardly smirking as she knew exactly what had Sakura so embarrassed. _*That was a better reaction than I'd hoped for,* _Shizuma thought to herself, inwardly smirking.

"This!" Sakura said, pointing to the photos in her hands, both photos were at least ten or eleven years old. One picture was of a six-year-old Sakura, with a _very_ red face, staring incredulously at a laughing brunette standing a few feet away from her while Sachiko glared at the brunette and Shizuma was rolling on the ground laughing in the background with a blonde girl and a black-haired boy who wore matching expressions mixed of shock and amusement. The second picture was what must have sparked the reactions of the first picture as it was of a wide-eyed six-year-old Sakura being kissed, _on the_ _lips_, by the laughing brunette from the first picture.

"Oh _that_," Shizuma said, restraining the urge to laugh at the present day Sakura's horrified face. "I'm surprised you don't remember that, it was quite the memorable experience."

"What is it?" Sakura said, valiantly fighting the blush on her face.

"It was at one of my family's 'get-togethers'," Shizuma said, putting air-quotes around the phrase. "My cousin and I were each allowed to invite two friends so that we had someone to play with while the adults did their thing. My cousin brought two friends from school, the blonde and the boy whose names I can't remember, and I brought you and Sachiko. My cousin was quite taken with you and she and I had a great time teasing you, she liked it because she made you blush, I liked it because it got a rile out of Sachiko." Shizuma smirked at the still-blushing Sakura. "Anyway, when it was time for you to go home, my cousin insisted on saying good-bye to you _her _way, which pretty much meant kissing the daylights out of you." Shizuma smirked again before continuing. "My parents, knowing exactly what she was up to, thought it was cute and took a picture at just the right moment. They then proceeded to take a picture of the reactions of all us kids. You can guess why Sachiko was glaring and why the blonde and the boy were shocked. My cousin and I, and I assume the blonde and the boy as well, just thought the expression on your face was priceless."

"I should have known," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "It's too bad I don't remember this though, it would have been nice. I look so..."

"Embarrassed?" Shizuma offered, smirking again.

"Not what I was going to say," Sakura said, looking at the photos again. "But I guess that's accurate enough. What I meant was that I look so happy and carefree, sort of. I haven't felt the way I look in that picture in a very long time." Sakura stated, handing the pictures back to Shizuma, who shook her head.

"Keep them, those are copies for you anyway," Shizuma said, handing the photos back to Sakura. "I never got the chance to give them to you as you were disowned shortly after and I didn't see you again until this year."

"Thanks, Shizuma," Sakura said, taking the photos back and smiling at the other girl as she closed her laptop. "Would you mind leaving now? I have to pack and finish up some things before I tell Nagisa and Sachiko what I'm doing."

"Of course," Shizuma said, standing up with Sakura as the pair of them walked to the door. "It's almost dinner time anyway. Oh, and Sakura?" Shizuma asked, turning to the other girl before she left.

"Yes?" Sakura asked, before getting enveloped in a hug by Shizuma.

"Stay safe, and come back to us okay?" Shizuma asked, letting of Sakura, who nodded her head.

"I will," Sakura said, Shizuma nodded and smiled at her before leaving the room.

Closing the door behind Shizuma, Sakura grabbed her previously packed backpack and suitcase from under her bed and dragged them over to the desk. After replacing Sachiko's chair, Sakura sat down at her desk, pulled some paper and envelopes from out of one of the drawers and proceeded to write three letters. Once she finished her task, Sakura put her laptop in her suitcase and put the two pictures Shizuma had just given her into the photo album in her backpack along with the book she borrowed from the library that very day. Finished with that, Sakura slipped quietly out her door and down to Nagisa's room where she left the first of her three letters after making sure no one had seen her. The halls were unusually quiet; everyone was probably down at dinner. Slipping back into her room, Sakura left the last two letters on Sachiko's side of the room, one on the desk and one on the bed.

Quickly changing into jeans and a sweatshirt, Sakura left her uniform hanging neatly in her closet, along with the other items she did not need to pack. Sweeping the room with her eyes and finding herself satisfied with everything that she saw, Sakura put her backpack on, picked up her suitcase and opened the window from which she climbed out and up onto the roof of the strawberry dorms. Walking to the edge of the roof, the corner that joined the Miator hall with the Lulim hall, Sakura looked up at the cloudless, darkening sky. A few stars were just barely visible and the moon was slowly appearing, a red star that Sakura could always see, but never paid much mind to, hovering just at the edge of the moon. Taking a deep breath, Sakura let her wings appear, her backpack nestled comfortably between them. Sighing, Sakura took one last, sad look behind her. _*I love you, everyone, I'm sorry.* _Sakura thought, before turning around and taking off into the night without a second glance back.

* * *

**A/N: So there you have it people! The end! Kidding, kidding. don't kill me. before i continue i want to say something that i was in too much of a rush in to put in the notes from the last chapter, but somebody asked me why i called Kagome's bear 'Percival'. let me clear this up, i did it because there are discrepencies between how to pronounce and spell the name, sometimes its Oshibaru and other times its Pashibaru. I use Percival because that is the name used in the English Dub and that way i won't have to worry about catching myself switching back and forth between Oshibaru and Pashibaru. it just makes my life simpler. on that note, i would like to thank all of you who have given me your support with NEM OLF and MOP POP. I promise you this isn't the end, its just the beginning...okay that was way to cliche. anyway, what i mean is that NEM OLF is now complete, but for those of you dying to know what happens next, the sequel (and possibly the final installment in this series (excluding any prequel or epilogue or lost chapters or whatever)) will be coming out soon, which reminds me: go answer my poll on what you think the sequel should be titled! Thanks again for all your support! R+R for me please! (or i'll take longer to post the sequel) ^_^**

**PS: extra points to anyone who can guess which anime the sequel is set in :)**


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